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CHAPTER TEN

Women in Religion

Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2016

https://archive.org/details/womenofohiorecor02neel

CHAPTER TEN

WOMEN IN RELIGION

By PAULINE SMITH

(Editor Religious Page y Columbus Citizen)

Ohio women have made definite contributions to organizations
closely allied with religion. This is evidenced by the fact that, the
Woman’s Christian Temperance Union was founded in Ohio, at least
one National Young Women’s Christion Association president has
been an Ohioan, and an Ohio woman is national president of the
Woman’s Home Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
The past president of the National Y. W. C. A. is MRS. HARRIE R.
CHAMBERLIN of Toledo and the president of the W. H. M. S. is MRS.
W. H. C. GOODE of Sidney.

Virtually all church federations of Ohio cities have efficient and
effective women’s departments.

The Ohio Council of Churches (Protestant) has a woman’s depart-
ment of which MRS. RUTH MOUGEY WORRELL, daughter of a
Methodist minister and known for her successful direction of pageants
at large religious gatherings, is executive secretary. This department
annually sponsors a conference of Ohio church women in connection with
the Ohio Pastors’ Convention held in Columbus.

In these and similar capacities Ohio women have done much to pre-
serve religion and religious institutions as a vital power in the com-
munity, the state and the nation. They have given generously of their
time and means. They have made it possible for the church to raise its
budget. Through innumerable organizations they have missionary aid
service — at home and in foreign lands.

In some denominations women serve in official capacities, on church
hoards and as delegates to denominational and general meetings.

But with all that they have done and are doing to continue and
advance religion, it is an inescapable and noteworthy fact that com-
paratively few Ohio women have made the pulpit their own vocation.

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There were apparently more women preachers in proportion to
population in the early days of Ohio than there are today. This may
be accounted for by the prevalence of Quakers, Shakers and other
sects in which the privileges of the pulpit were not conditioned on defi-
nite and extensive theological training.

Today the ministry is in the main, a profession with high stan-
dards of education and specific training, quite comparable with the
standards of law, medicine, and modern pedagogy. This in itself can-
not be the deterrent, there are far more women doctors, lawyers,
highly trained teachers than women ministers in Ohio. Even the fem-
inist movement which brought women the ballot and with it easier
access to professions, previously closed, seems to have exerted little
or no influence on their entrance to the ministry.

The obvious answer is that women evidently prefer to give their
time and energies to close co-operation in religious work and their
leadership to those activities for spiritual, moral and social betterment
which are so important, so inseparably a part of the modern church.

However, Ohio has women ministers, especially in the smaller
communities, some of whom are doing excellent work. But Ohio has
no Maude Hoyden, in whose ability and achievements England takes
so justifiable a pride.

On the other hand, Ohio has no Aimee Semple McPherson — which
perhaps really evens up matters, more or less.

“ Order is Heaven’s first law” and “Cleanliness is next to Godli-
ness” but there is no question as to which came first in the minds — at
least, in the conscious minds — of the pioneer mothers. God was very
real in this early wilderness. He was very close. He had to be. From
north, south, east and west came, all too often, only danger. Help had
to come from somewhere — so it must come from above.

One must give hostages, even to good fortune. The religion of
the day, certainly the religion of the common people, was frosty and
stiff with Calvinism. It grimly demanded adequate quid pro quo. One
must pay a price for divine protection. The price was rigid conformity
with religious taboos which ruled out much innocent human happiness.

What with ever present danger and omnipresent hardships, the
pioneer mother had no chance to be comfortable and little, seemingly,
to be happy.

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Yet, by the paradox which is human nature, she was probably
quite happy at times, because of the very contrast of these sunny inter-
vals with the times of strain and struggle.

But you may be sure that she did not let herself betray too much
of glee or gladsomeness. She ventured only a quiet, careful kind of
happiness and probably was rather furtive about it, even in her
prayers. It could easily have offended the dictator deity of that day.
In important matters that affected her personally, children, husband,
home, there was no sense in taking a chance by seeming too joyous.

Happiness afforded by religious ecstacy was, of course, a different
matter. Evangelical religion was at the time highly emotional — or
perhaps emotionalism, bottled up elsewhere, seized this chance of
escape, safeguarded in the guise of worship. From religious exaltation
to exhortations is but a short step. Even so, it is surprising, consider-
ing the limited population of the early Ohio settlements, how many
women made it. Their first step outside the home was probably into
the prayer meeting. Presently some of them would even reach the pul-
pit. But not yet.

MELISSA TERRELL

The first woman preacher of Ohio was the REVEREND MELISSA
TERRELL, born in Adams County in 1834. She was a member of the Southern
Ohio Christian Conference. Her family name was Garrett ; she was married
twice, first to Rev. W. H. Timmons, and later to a William Terrell.

The Rev. Melissa was ordained at the Ebenezer Church, Clark County,
Ohio, March 7, 1867. Her original membership in the Conference was under
the designation of “Female Laborer” but after her ordination she was
accepted and given credentials as “an ordained minister of good standing
in this Conference”.

Rev. J. F. Burnett, long a general secretary and historian of the Christian
Church, says of her :

“Mrs. Terrell was the first woman ordained by the Christians and prob-
ably the first woman in modern times to be ordained by any denomination by
direct authority of a Conference or local congregation. She was not the first
woman ordained to the ministry, but the first, as stated above, to be ordained
by the authority of a Conference or local congregation. She has held, beside
her work in Ohio, pastorates in Iowa and Missouri. Tn 1877 when the Con-
ference held its annual session in Ripley, Ohio, this writer was ordained and
Mrs. Timmons preached the ‘Annual Conference Sermon.’ The Conference

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had the sermon printed in pamphlet form and distributed it quite widely, not
only among the churches of its own membership, but also throughout the
denomination. She was a speaker of rare ability and persuasiveness, and her
appeals were seldom without response.”

HELEN FLORENCE BARNES

HELEN FLORENCE BARNES, formerly a national and an international
secretary of the Young Women’s Christian Association, was born at Ottawa,
O., the daughter of the Rev. Adam C. and Harriet P. Barnes.

Fine educational training and exceptional administrative ability com-
bined to qualify Helen Barnes for the outstanding service she has given in
this country and abroad for the past 28 years. She attended Ohio Northern
University, took her M. A. at Ohio Wesleyan, attended Columbia University
for a special course in sociology and received the degree of LL.D. from
Lincoln Memorial University. In 1927 Miss Barnes worked in Greece in the
interests of Near East Relief. She traversed Egypt, Palestine and Syria in the
course of her Y. W. C. A. assignments, attended the World W. C. T. A. con-
vention at Stockholm, the Y. W. C. A. World Conference at Geneva and rep-
resented the last named organization in many other places and connections.
For several years past this notable Ohio woman has filled various Methodist
Episcopal pulpits as a local preacher. Her home is at 432 W. Sandusky St.,
Findlay, Ohio.

MAY E. BULLOCK

MAY E. BULLOCK (Mrs. Frederick E. Bullock) secretary from 1933 to
1938 of the American Association of Women Preachers of Westboro, Ohio was
born at Toledo, the daughter of James and Phoebe E. Green. She attended
the Auburn School of Religion, took her M. A. at Rollins College and later
took special theological and other courses. She was married in 1898 to
Frederick E. Bullock, contractor, and was for 2^2 years pastor of the Con-
gregational Christian Church at Plainville, N. Y., pastor for five years at
Trotwood, Ohio and for three years at Westboro, Ohio.

Mrs. Bullock’s deep interest in the problem of youth (she is the mother
of five children) and her gift of understanding and appeal qualified her ex-
ceptionally for ten years of service as secretary of children’s work sponsored
by the Christian denomination. She has been an editor and lesson writer for
15 years, during which she has had published many children’s stories. Her
present home is at Westboro, Ohio.

Between the administrations of MRS. JOHN DAVIS, first president of
the Cincinnati Young Women’s Christian Association, and MRS. JOSEPH
KINDLE, president at the time of this writing (1939) there is a history of 71
anxious arduous but constantly amplifying years.

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Only high lights of this history can here be outlined and to those who
founded this great social service only a summarized tribute can be paid.

Yet every individual on the first “ Board of Managers” of the Cincinnati
Women’s Christian Association — the “young” was not added until 1894 —
surely deserved individual recognition. There were six vice presidents, Mrs.
S. S. Fisher, Mrs. A. D. Bullock, Mrs. Alplionso Taft. Mrs. W. W. Scarborough,
Mrs. J. F. Perry and Mrs. E. Williams. Mrs. H. W. Sage was recording secre-
tary, Mrs. Robert Brown, corresponding secretary and Mrs. W. B. Davis,
treasurer.

Other members of the board were : Mrs. D. W. Clark, Mrs. J. F. Perry,
Mrs. B. F. Brannan, Mrs. C. J. Acton, Mrs. Jacob D. Cox, Mrs. Thane Miller,
Mrs. Frank Whetstone, Mrs. A. J. Howe, Mrs. C. L. Thompson, Mrs. George
W. McAlpin, Mrs. Elizabeth Dean, Mrs. Murray Shipley, Mrs. Mary J. Taylor,
Mrs. W. M. Bush, Mrs. E. G. Hall, Miss Mary Fitz, Miss H. A. Smith, Miss
Mary H. Sibley and Miss Julia Carpenter.

The outstanding purpose in starting the Cincinnati Y. W. C. A. was to
provide a home for working women. Magnitude of this task can be estimated
from the grim economic fact that whereas minimum board cost was $3.50 per
week, the average woman’s wage was at the time, $2.00 weekly, not daily.

So at once Mrs. Davis and her board members set about trying to remedy,
while they met, an underlying economic condition.

The Y. W. C. A. has continued ever since to work on this same principle :
To meet the needs of today, while striving for a better tomorrow.

Here is a skeleton outline compiled by the board in 1938 for celebration
of its 70th anniversary, of major achievements.

The first committees were an employment committee to help girls to get
situations and a missionary committee, the members of which visited the jail,
and workhouse and gave out tracts.

Tn 1870 a Young Ladies Branch was organized and a library was opened.

A house on Broadway was next leased and later purchased, in which 90
girls could be accommodated.

An Industrial Institute was opened in 1872 under the supervision of the
Young Ladies Branch in which girls were taught trades of various kinds.
Much work of a charitable nature was done and this led to the formation of
the Cincinnati Associated Charities.

In 1872 a summer cottage was built at Epworth Heights through the
generosity of Mrs. L. B. Reakirt.

A committee was appointed to see that girls be allowed seats behind
their counters. This was the beginning of work later taken over by the Con-
sumers League.

In 1883 saw the opening of a Woman’s Exchange to market the products
of the Industrial Institute — a forerunner of the present Cincinnati Woman's
Exchange.

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A great event of 1885 was the meeting in Cincinnati of the International
Conference of Y. W. C. A.’s with 20 Associations represented. Five years
later MRS. THANE MILLER was sent as a Cincinnati delegate to the London
Conference.

In 1899 the Y. W. C. A. joined the Travelers’ Aid Society.

In 1904 the Business Girls Club was organized. Sewing classes were
popular in the Junior department.

In 1905 saw the opening of the then new building at No. 20 East 8th
St. Bible classes taught in factories at the noon hours and educational work
done in the evenings in the new building.

In 1907 the Association joined National Board.

Cottage at Epworth Heights was rebuilt after a fire had destroyed the
first one.

In 1916 the first Girl Scout group was formed, but was later changed
to the present Girl Reserve clubs.

In 1918-1919, War Work Council and Industrial Centers established at
Norwood and West Eighth Street by the Government; were taken over and
became Y. W. C. A. Norwood Branch and West End Branch (Blue Triangle)
for Negro girls.

In 1920 Y. W. C. A. joined the Community Chest.

Crowded conditions became acute and plans for a new building with a
campaign for funds occupied all members.

In 1927 building campaign was carried on and was very successful. A
beautiful gift of a camp on the Whitewater River at New Trenton, Indiana,
in memory of her husband, was bestowed by one of our beloved members and
named “Lenmary. ”

The cornerstone of the new building in 1928 was laid and within the
year entered new home — in March, 1929. Through the generosity of their
two daughters a chapel was dedicated to the memory of Mr. and Mrs. Peters
and became the heart of the building.

Laundry opened on the 13th floor became a great convenience as it takes
care of all laundry for all branches and Lenmary Camp.

The University Y. W. C. A. (student) began close cooperation with pro-
gram of city association.

Penmaen Farm, an old-fashioned home with 32 acres on a hill above
New Richmond, was given by a generous friend to be used as a rest home
for members of staff.

A wider scope of work inaugurated with centralization of effort at the
city association.

“We begin our next decade of work and helpfulness with firm faith in
the guidance of the Holy Spirit with gratitude for all the way in which God
has led us and a sincere consecration to do a larger and better work in the
future. ’ ’

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433

FLORENCE OTIS KINDLE

FLORENCE OTIS KINDLE (Mrs. Joseph Kindle), president of the board
of directors of the Young Women’s Christian Association has become, through
her ability, training and personality, one of the highly valued citizens of
Cincinnati. She came to that city about fifteen years ago, to join the faculty of
the University of Cincinnati.

Born in Hudson, Wisconsin, she is the daughter of Charles Herbert Otis
and Elizabeth Comstock Otis, both of English descent. She attended the high
schools of St. Paul, Minnesota, Macalester College, the University of Chicago,
receiving there an A. B. degree, finally did graduate work at Columbia Uni-
versity. She taught household economics first in Emporia College, Kansas, then
at Drake University and eventually in the University of Cincinnati.

In 1926 she married Joseph H. Kindle, professor of mathematics in the
Engineering College of the University of Cincinnati.

Since that time Florence Kindle has taken a prominent part in the civic
life of Cincinnati. A member of the Cincinnati Women’s Club and the College
Club, her chief interest and energy has been given to the character building
work of the Young Women’s Christian Association, which she has served in
many capacities, before assuming her present responsible post as president
of its board.

Vice presidents — as of 1938 are : Mrs. Fred W. Moore, Mrs. Carl W
Rich and Mrs. Joseph A. Hall. Mrs. W. Orville Ramsey was recording sec-
retary, Mrs. Albert P. Matthews, corresponding secretary, and Mrs. August
Marx, treasurer.

Other members of the board of directors are : Mrs. C. V. Anderson.
Mrs. George B. Barbour, Mrs. Eva M. Bowles, Mrs. Robert Brinkman, Mrs.
I. J. Cortright, Mrs. Claude V. Courter, Mrs. Orville W. Crane, Mrs. John W.
Dalzell, Miss Florence Dieckmann, Miss Fern Dunkin, Miss Nellie Hayes
Fairweather, Mrs. Frederick Y. Geier, Mrs. Eric W. Gibberd, Miss Zana
Harrow, Mrs. David Heusinkveld, Mrs. Leo Lindenberg, Mrs. Vivien Mc-
Intire, Mrs. Alfred D. Moore, Mrs. Marcus M. Rambo, Mrs. Ida M. Rhodes,
Mrs. G. Barrett Rich, Mrs. Chas. S. Riley, Mrs. Stuart H. Smith, Mrs. Frank
H. Stevenson, Mrs. Samuel P. Todd, Mrs. P. G. Yondersmith and Miss Helen
Wilson.

Honorary members were: Miss Margaret B. Graham, Mrs. M. L. Kirk-
patrick, Mrs. D. B. Meacham and Mrs. Charles H. Stephens.

LYDIA SUTLIFF BRAINARD

LYDIA SUTLIFF BRAINARD of Warren, O., was graduated from
Warren High School in 1885. She married Edward J. Brainard of Warren,
who later became assistant manager of the American Linseed Oil Co. with

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offices in New York City. Mrs. Brainard and her sister, Miss Phebe Sutliff,
are the last of the eight children of Levi and Phebe Marvin Sutliff. In 1921
following the death of Mrs. Brainard ’s husband and only child, Edward
Sutliff Brainard, Lydia Brainard returned from New York to Warren to
reside. She has devoted her time to church and Y. W. C. A. activities and
has served as trustee and deaconess at First Baptist Church. Through her
efforts gifts were secured that freed the Y. W. C. A. building from debt and
she also secured an endowment gift for that institution. She is a trustee and
vice president of the Warren Y. W. C. A.

Before the death of Mr. Brainard, the Brainards endowed a prize scholar-
ship in memory of their son, who had prepared for college there. During the
World War Mrs. Brainard went twice a week to Camp Merritt, N. Y., to
distribute gifts to the soldiers, especially those who were ill.

A bequest of Judge Milton Sutliff, an uncle of Miss Phebe Sutliff and
Mrs. Brainard, to be used for the benefit of the “Warren Youth” was
eventually combined with a Carnegie Fund to erect the present Warren
Public Library. Miss Sutliff and Mrs. Brainard have endowed a room in that
institution known as the Brainard room in memory of Mrs. Brainard ’s only
son.

IRMA A. COHON

IRMA A. COHON (Mrs. Samuel S. Cohon), Cincinnati writer and musi-
cian, was born at Portland, Ore., the daughter of J. F. and Amelia Reinhart.

She took her A. B. at the University of Cincinnati, completed her educa-
tion at Hebrew Union College, and entered on a career of religious educational
writing, which has won excellent recognition in this special field. Among her
published books and monographs are “Introduction to Jewish Music,” “Har-
vest Festival,” “A Brief Jewish Ritual,” and a number of religious poems.

MARIE GWYNNE CROTTI

Outstanding in Columbus for her welfare work among children and her
devotion to the Catholic church is MARIE GWYNNE CROTTI, wife of Dr.
Andre Crotti, internationally known goiter specialist. One rarely sees her
name in the public print, nor are many of her philanthropies known.

Descendant of a pioneer Columbus family, Mrs. Crotti was a member of the
first board of governors of the Big Sister Association of that city when it
was founded through the Franklin County juvenile court in 1913. Three years
later it was incorporated and her name again was listed as a member of the
board of trustees. She also was active in the woman’s suffrage movement.

In October, 1938, Mrs. Crotti was invested with a gold cross “Pro Ecclesia
et Pontifici”, sent to her by Pope Pius XI as a special award for loyalty and

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devotion to the church and for her generous work among the poor. Time
and money contributed by her has enabled scores of underprivileged children
to attend school.

JESSIE BURRALL EUBANK

JESSIE BURRALL EUBANK (Mrs. Earle E. Eubank) Cincinnati speaker
and writer on religious education, has acquired a position of authority in this
field hitherto attained by comparatively few women.

She was born at Hillsdale, Wis., received her A. B. degree at the Uni-
versity of Wisconsin and was for a period a faculty member of the Teachers
College of St. Cloud University.

In 1928 she married Dr. Earle Eubank, head of the department of socio-
logy, University of Cincinnati. Ever since her work began in Cincinnati, Mrs.
Eubank has participated enthusiastically in the educational, cultural and
social activities of her adopted city. She has had published many articles re-
lated to religious education, in which field she is regarded as expert.

FLORENCE MARY FITCH

FLORENCE MARY FITCH, professor of Biblical literature, Oberlin
College, was born at Stratford, Conn., the daughter of the Rev. Frank S. and
Anna Fitch. She took her A. B. at Oberlin, her M. A. and Ph. D. at the Uni-
versity of Berlin, Germany. Miss Fitch is trustee of the Oberlin Shansi Mem-
orial Association and was formerly dean of women of the college. She is
active in the National Association of Biblical Instruction, in the National
Association, Teachers of Religion, the American Schools of Oriental Research
and other important organizations. Among her writings are “What Are Our
Social Standards?”, and “The Daughter of Abd Salam”. Her home is at 97
Elm St., Oberlin.

STELLA HEINSHEIMER FREIBERG

To list the achievements of STELLA HETNSHE1MER FREIBERG (Mrs.
J. Walter Freiberg) would be in large measure to index the progress in social
welfare, in education, in culture and in civic growth of her native city, Cin-
cinnati, for more than thirty years, for along these lines she has put forth
intelligent and effective effort that has brought forth rich fruit for the benefit
of human kind and has had tangible results not only in the uplift of the
individual but also in the development of the city in which she has spent
the greater part of her life. Born in Cincinnati, Mrs. Freiberg is the daughter
of the late Lewis and Emma Heinsheimer. Her education, begun in this city,
was completed abroad and her interest in and innate understanding of music
and art have been developed by the opportunity of seeing, hearing and com-
paring the best in these and other fields of art both at home and in foreign

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lands. She has visited the great art centers of Europe, with appreciation for
the works of the great masters in those fields which lead at all times to cul-
tural advancement, and her life has known the great enrichment which travel
can bring. In 1884 Stella Heinsheimer became the wife of the late J. Walter
Freiberg and has one son, Julius W. Freiberg.

Not only is Mrs. Freiberg well known in art circles but also in connection
with the great philanthropic movements of Cincinnati and of the country at
large. She is president of the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods, is
a director of the National Council of Jewish Women and she gave a gym-
nasium to Hebrew Union College in memory of her husband. She has given
in what would total a far greater amount to virtually every cause of funda-
mental benefit to her fellow citizens. In addition, she has given unstintedly
of her time and energy to worthwhile organizations, including the Consump-
tive Relief Association, the Federation of Music Clubs, the League of Women
Voters, the Foreign Policy Association, the English Speaking Union and many
others and in the field of art she is well known as the first vice president of
the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and of the Cincinnati Art Museum. She
has made her life richer, better, broader to those to whom her example is a
stimulus and her life an inspiration.

MAKY FULTON

DR. MARY FULTON, who was born in a little house on Center Street,
Ashland, now a part of the grounds of the residence of the late F. E. Myers,
was the first medical missionary sent out to China by the Philadelphia board
of the Presbyterian church. One of her first pupils in China was Dr. Sun
Yat Sen, who became the first president of the Chinese republic and the
“George Washington of China ”. Dr. Fulton was head of a hospital in China
for many years and also of an educational institution and school for nurses.
She died at Pasadena, Calif., in 1926.

MARY LOU BOWERS GRAY

MARY LOU BOWERS GRAY (Mrs. Louis G. Gray), former missionary
to Japan and to the Virgin Islands, whose unusual service to the Lutheran
Church is widely recognized in that and other denominations, was born at
Columbia, S. C., the daughter of Andrew and Mary Lou Bowers.

She took her A. B. at Newberry College, attended the Biblical Seminary,
New York and first served as deaconess of the First Lutheran Church of Rock-
ford, 111.

She was married in 1922 to the Rev. Louis Garrett Gray, having previously
served as missionary to Japan. Later, she assisted in relief work during the
Japanese earthquake of 1923 and again served as first aid, in 1928, when the

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Virgin Islands were devastated by hurricane. Mrs. Gray has written exten-
sively for missionary magazines and is in much demand as speaker. Her home
is at New Carlisle, Ohio.

MARY J. GRISWOLD

But for MARY J. GRISWOLD the beautiful building of the Young
Women’s Christian Association at Columbus might never have been possible.
As late as 1893 there was no Y. W. C. A. branch at Columbus and when it
started, in 1894, it was as a department of the Women’s Educational and
Industrial Union started in 1886 mainly to provide residence for homeless
working girls.

It is reported that when finally Y. W. C. A. work got into swing, educa-
tional and recreational classes rapidly growing in popular favor, discon-
tinuance of gymnasium work was strongly urged by one of the staunchly
conservative board members. It seems that lads employed in the neighborhood
were tempted, despite the voluminous “bloomers” which constituted official
gymnasium costume, to peek in at the windows when the girls were doing
their exercises. This created quite a furore. But the majority of the lady
board members were not to be stampeded when good plain common sense
pointed the way to solve their difficulty. Why not just buy window shades?
So they did.

The work of the Y. W. C. A. expanded rapidly, extra space was needed
and property at 65 South Fourth St. was bought for this purpose from another
notable Columbus woman, CATHERINE TUTTLE, in 1906. The Y. W. C. A.
paid $30,000.00 in cash, leaving a mortgage of $25,000.00. One of the reasons
for their high appreciation of Miss Tuttle was that this mortgage was can-
celled on Miss Tuttle’s will in 1910.

Continuous growth required constantly more space and the Y. W. C. A.
moved several times until 1929, when beautiful Griswold Memorial Building
was opened. The money, more than $400,000.00, was bequeathed by the late
Mary J. Griswold in memory of her husband, Charles C. Griswold. She left
also large sums to the Salvation Army, Y. M. C. A., Girl Scouts and Camp
Fire Girls.

MARY AMELIA GRISWOLD

MARY AMELIA GRISWOLD (Mrs. Joel Rumsey Reeve) was born in
Kirtland, O., in 1832, the daughter of Isaac Harrow and Mary Olive Griswold.
Her father was a teacher for 19 years and later owner of the Kirtland Mills.
Mary Amelia married Joel Reeve, descendant of an old Connecticut family,
in 1850. She had been educated at the Willoughby Female Seminary, where
her ability in speaking and writing was early recognized.

Mrs. Reeve was deeply devoted to religion, an earnest church woman and
although she bore her share of the responsibility for conducting a large farm

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and for rearing to manhood and womanhood four sons and four daughters,
nothing was permitted to lessen her service to the church and Sunday school.
She was equally solicitous for the poor and underprivileged. Temperance work
found in Amelia Reeve a strong ally, both as crusader and later as president
of the county Women’s Christian Temperance Union.

She was a charter member of the Willoughby Library board, also of the
local Equal Rights Society and worked steadily for suffrage until the time
of her death, Aug. 23, 1900.

SARAH CAROLINE HARLAN HADLEY

Once upon a time — when the art of “phonography” as it was first called,
was just beginning to be utilized, SARAH CAROLINE HARLAN HADLEY
of Wilmington, Ohio enjoyed through her father an unusual distinction. His
name was Enoch Harlan and he was, for a period, the only stenographer em-
ployed in the state of Ohio.

Sarah might have been expected to follow in her father’s footsteps but
she did not. Her call, she felt was to a higher and more important service and
she permitted nothing to prevent her from answering it.

So Sarah became a Quaker preacher. She held services regularly every
Sunday at Olive Branch Church, in Warren County and at Clarksville in
Clinton County and took part in annual meetings held in other states. She
married Miles Hadley, of Wilmington but continued to fill her pulpits. Then
trouble came. Her eyesight was failing — and presently she was blind.

The blind woman then retired from the pulpit but not human service. For
25 years Mrs. Hadley continued active in church and civic affairs — continued,
as best she could, the ministry to which she had felt so strong a call.

MARY E. HALLECK

MARY E. HALLECK (Mrs. A. B. Marshall) of Steubenville, 0., early
became interested in religious work in the foreign field and was sent to China
by the Presbyterian Church. She was for a number of years teacher of English
in Shanghai.

SALLIE FREIBERG! HEINSHEIMER

SALLIE FREIBERG HEINSHEIMER (Mrs. Edward L. Heinsheimer)
former president of the Cincinnati Section, Council of Jewish Women, was
born in that city, the daughter of Julius and Duffie Freiberg. Their ideals
of social and educational progress were her heritage, motivating services that
have benefitted not only her own community but have been nation-wide in !
their scope and influence.

Her mother was before her marriage a teacher in the Cincinnati public
schools and as such had definite part in building up the fine educational

ST. VICTOR CHAPEL, FORT SCOTT CAMP,

near Cincinnati , gift of Mrs. Frederick Wallis Hinkle

■a'.C

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441

system of the city. Julius Freiberg, her father, was early exemplar of a type
of public spirited citizenship which has since been identified with the Freiberg
family in virtually all its branches.

Sallie Freiberg was graduated from Hughes High School, attended the
University of Cincinnati, and was married to Edward L. Heinsheimer, whose
fine character and outstanding ability soon won high place in the esteem of
his fellow citizens. A keen visioned man of business, he became president of
the Cincinnati Stock Exchange. His far reaching human sympathy motivated
extensive philanthropies that sought to solve the problems as well as to alle-
viate the sufferings of the underprivileged and his love for his native city
expressed itself in active efforts for civic progress. As president of the board
of directors of Hebrew Union College, his services to the cause of spiritual
education became nation wide in their scope.

Mrs. Heinsheimer ’s innate ability for social service found effective ex-
pression in a parallel field. She has been for years a leader in the Cincinnati
Council of Jewish Women, has served on the national board of this organiza-
tion, also on the board of the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods.

She is a member of Isaac M. Wise Temple, of the Board of Temple Sister-
hoods, of the Cincinnati Woman’s Club, the Woman’s City Club, and of other
outstanding groups and has for many years been active in the work of the
Fresh Air and Convalescent Aid Society.

Their parents’ ideals of human service are shared and expressed in various
ways by the three daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Heinsheimer, Emma (Mrs. Stan-
ley Dorst) Duffie, (Mrs. Irvin F. Westheimer) and Stella (Mrs. Walter F.

I Foreman).

MRS. FREDERICK WALLIS HINKLE

Belcamp, the residence of MRS. FREDERICK WALLIS HINKLE, Walsh
' Place, on the east hill of Cincinnati, is an imposing as well as a very beautiful
home. For a location so near the city it retains an unusual acreage. There
pasture in spacious fields, cows of distinguished lineage. Beautifully kept
j gardens, fine old trees, a swimming pool, shrubs, perennial borders reflect
| the personal interests and tastes of the enviable owners.

This is why a newspaper woman who once called at the Hinkle home was
a bit startled to discover the reason that necessitated a short wait.

“To tell the truth, T was busy in the laundry,” explained the mistress
i of Belcamp. “I couldn’t very well ask the maids to take care of what T was
| doing and they had a hard time finding me.”

The smiling, handsome, in reality stately Mrs. Frederick Wallis Hinkle
j had been, it seemed, doing a family washing. It was an emergency job. A
| tubercular family she was intent on moving to decent quarters and otherwise
rehabilitating. It was just one of those things — She had planned to start

442

WOMEN OF OHIO

them out all clean and rehabilitated. They needed clean clothes immediately —
there just wasn't any other way.

This helps to explain how Susanna Hinkle, herself a descendent of old
Massachusetts stock whose husband heads one of Cincinnati’s finest old fam-
ilies, acquired the title of “Kindest Lady.”

The title is unofficial but also undisputed. However, disclaimed by its
possessor, it has been earned over and over and over again. It would be up-
held against all comers, by hundreds who know whereof they speak.

Mrs. Hinkle was born at Newport, Ky., the daughter of Charles and
Susanna Russell. Her father came from New Bedford, Mass. Her mother
was of Quaker descent. Their daughter was sent to Notre Dame Academy
at Reading, Ohio. She was good at music and languages. She intended to pursue
her higher education in these cultural fields. But this had to be deferred for
Susanna was barely out of her teens — (still in her teens) when she married
Nicholas Walsh, prominent Kentucky business man. Much of the practical
skill applied by her in later years to volunteer social service and welfare work
she acquired in the care of her five sons and daughters and in the conduct of
her own home.

Mr. Walsh died in 1913. The needs of many under privileged families
of numerous unfortunate individuals had already challenged the keenly sym-
pathetic interest of Mrs. Walsh.

After the second marriage other types of service claimed a growing share
of her time and energies. She helped to organize and became president of the
Cincinnati Catholic Women’s Club. This has a diversified program of activi-
ties — educational, recreational and civic, conducted largely in the interests
of young women. They established a club house as the center of these activi-
ties, pushed through many fine projects.

During the World War, Mrs. Hinkle headed and assisted in extensive
services for soldiers and soon after began a series of benefactions to the
Catholic Church which have developed steadily in scope and effectiveness.
She was a donor to St. Mary’s Church, Hyde Park, now one of the leading
Catholic congregations of Cincinnati.

Deep interest of Mrs. Hinkle in education was evidenced by her next out-
standing and very important gift — that of Hinkle Hall to Xavier University.

The third major contribution of Mrs. Hinkle was to Ft. Scott Camp,
benefits of which extend to youth of the entire city. Through the generosity
of this Cincinnati woman and under her competent direction Ft. Scott has
attained enviable standards among comparable summer camps of the country.
St. Victor Chapel, the beautiful woodland place of worship for which the
forested slopes of the camp are perfect background, was entirely Mrs. Hinkle’s
gift.

MRS. FREDERICK WALLIS IIIXKLE

of Cincinnati , donor of Hinkle Hall to Xavier
University, and of many other gifts and
henef actions

WOMEN OF OHIO

445

It was agreed by the donor, the architect and others actively interested,
that the chapel should not reflect sophisticated architectural taste but should
be constructed, as far as possible, of materials native to the surrounding
country side and that it should be a product of the intelligently directed skill
of laboring craftsmen.

The walls are of stone, inside and out. The roof is timbered inside, the
outside covering of handmade tiles.

A large wooden Crucifix, suspended over the stone altar, the stone floor
of the nave and sanctuary, the wrought iron communion rail and lighting
fixtures, all help to form a harmonious ensemble, adapted to its purpose.

Ft. Scott Camp is open to all normal children. It is administrated under
the direction of the Rev. Monsignor R. Marcellus Wagner. It provides, at
nominal cost, for a six weeks stay where woods and fields, sunshine and open
sky, reveal their delights to city bred children.

It’s always worth while to do things for children, Mrs. Hinkle believes.
It is worth while almost always to help anyone, of whatever age, in need of
a helping hand — that’s the way Cincinnati’s “ Kindest Lady” feels about the
matter.

Its the way she always has felt. It’s what made her the "Kindest Lady”.

GOLDA CARPENTER HUGHES
GOLDA CARPENTER HUGHES (Mrs. Edward Hughes) is one of the
mainstays of the Bucyrus Ohio Kings Daughters and for six years served as
i president of the Ohio Branch, International Order of King’s Daughters and
| Sons.

She also served as the first City Union chairman and while in the office
of Crawford county president, organized six additional circles.

When the state order was negotiating to purchase Maplecrest, King’s
Daughters’ home for girls in Bucyrus, Mrs. Hughes was a member of the local
committee.

The home was purchased in 1919 and opened in 1920 and during Mrs.
Hughes’ tenure of office as state president, Maplecrest was re-dedicated at a
| convention of the Ohio Branch in Bucyrus.

Her election as state president took place in 1930 after she had served
on the state board as a trustee. Up to that time the Ohio Branch had had
no official publication. Then through her efforts, she edited, and had pub-
lished, a four-page monthly bulletin called The Ohio Voice. This is still being
published in Bucyrus by the state branch.

During her state presidency, Ohio entertained the International Order for
the first time and Mrs. Hughes was official hostess at the convention held in
Columbus.

Mrs. Hughes has also been an active supporter of the City Federation of
Women’s Clubs in Bucyrus.

446

WOMEN OF OHIO

MARY KELLEY

MARY KELLEY, now retired at Jacksonville, Fla., many years a mis-
sionary at Nanking, China; Goldie Swartz, now in India and Nora Vesper
and Clara Harper, now in Africa, are among missionaries sent out from Ash-
land College.

SARAH LEHR KENNEDY

SARAH LEHR KENNEDY was the daughter of H. S. Lehr, the founder
of the North Western Ohio Normal School, now Ohio Northern University.
Her father was a man whose whole life was dedicated to the ideal of providing
a higher education for the poor and underprivileged youth of Ohio. Her
mother was a woman of strong religious sentiment and an early worker for
temperance.

Sarah was born in 1874 and graduated from the University at the age
of 19 with an A. B. degree. In the meantime she had served as her father’s
private secretary and acted as tutor to special students, some of whom had
come to Normal School, unable even to read, or with the most inadequate
rudimentary training. After her graduation she taught Greek and English
in her father’s school for three years.

She was married in 1900 to Edward B. Kennedy, a graduate of Wooster
and McCormack, and in 1901 they took their infant son, and sailed for China
as missionaries.

Their two younger children were born in Shanghai, China.

She published a tract in 1922, “ Under the Shadow of the Almighty”, a
narrative describing the experiences of her husband at the hands of bandits
in China. After this experience they returned to America and entered city
mission work in Chicago. Since the death of her husband in 1934 she has
made her home in Ada with her sister, Miss Harriet Lehr.

In 1938 she completed and published the book “H. S. Lehr and His
School”, which is a comprehensive history of normal school development in
the middle west.

MARION S. KIMBALL

MAJOR MARION S. KIMBALL, of Cincinnati, Ohio, daughter of Salva-
tion Army parents, herself an officer in the Salvation Army, has for many
years served as director of the Catherine Booth Home and Hospital for
Women and Children, established and run by the Army, for the aid and re-
habilitation of unmarried mothers and their babies.

Major Kimball has brought to her important work an ability for organiza-
tion, a genius for broad social contacts, together with a deep sympathy and
understanding of human problems, which has gained for her the respect, the
admiration, and the financial support of her fellow citizens.

WOMEN OF OHIO

447

EMMA R. KRAMMES

EMMA R. KRAMMES (Mrs. B. B. Krammes), leader and teacher of mis-
sion study classes, of Tiffin, 0., was born in that city, the daughter of Anton
and Caroline Reuss. She took her B. S. at Heidelberg University, Tiffin, 0.
She was for a number of years president of the Women’s Missionary Society
of the General Synod, Dutch Reformed Church in the U. S., also president
of the Women’s Missionary Society of the Ohio Synod for three years. She
married Beniah Krammes in 1884. Mrs. Krammes was for a period associate
editor of “The Outlook of Missions” and has represented the women’s mis-
sionary society of her church at international conferences. Her home is at 14
Clinton St., Tiffin, 0.

SARAH ANN LINTON

It is said of SARAH ANN LINTON (Mrs. Seth Linton) of Wilmington,
Ohio, that she travelled more — and at her own expense — than virtually any
minister of her day and faith. Sarah Ann was an ordained preacher of the
Quaker faith. She was born in 1819 and died in 1893. Her father was Joshua
Moore of Chester Co., Pa., and she was herself the mother of six children.

This did not deter the little Quakeress, however, from attending every
yearly meeting of her sect in the United States. All but one — she did miss an
annual conference held in Kansas, where, at the time, Indians were all too
plentiful — and pesky.

Sarah always paid her way in all the thousands of miles that she travelled
mainly via stage coach. It is true that she made many friends, both with and
without the capital F, and that she was often in receipt of gifts. These,
Quakeress Sarah realized, were in recognition of her arduous performance
of what she believed to be her religious obligation. So it was quite all right.
But we can be very sure that she would have crisscrossed the country just
as thoroughly had no one ever known. She had a devout heart — and also,
probably itching feet.

MRS. GABRIEL LIPSANEN

MRS. GABRIEL LIPSANEN of Fairport Harbor, Ohio was born Alma
Elina Hinkkanen in Saaksmaki, Hamenlaani, Finland on September 16, 1884.
She was the second child and the eldest daughter of Johan and Elina Hink-
kanen. Her father was a general merchant and at his death, Alma, in her
early teens, experienced her first contact with heavy responsibility. Her
mother was entirely in ignorance of business methods and Alma was the only
child in the family who had enough business acumen to continue her father’s
store.

The business survived but Alma was ambitious and yearned for a higher
education. With the help of friends the girl completed her preparatory educa-

448

WOMEN OF OHIO

tion in the Sortavala Seminary. She then entered the University of Helsinki
in the capital city of Finland. There her remarkable gift of oratory was
recognized and young Miss Hinkkanen was sent on speaking tours throughout
Finland. She had become interested in temperance and it was the Finnish
National Temperance Association that sent her into every Finnish hamlet and
city to preach its gospel.

Then the League decided to send a speaker to America to tour the Finnish
sections in that land. In competitive try-outs for this speaking position, Alma
Hinkkanen, a girl of twenty-four, triumphed over scores of male applicants.

The American speaking tour was to the ardent young speaker an adven-
ture in pioneering. Her itinerary took her from Massachusetts to San Fran-
cisco, from Sault St. Marie to Mississippi. In Massachusetts a young Finnish
clergyman, the Rev. Gabriel Lipsanen, heard the girl’s eager oratory and
obtained an introduction. This meeting eventually culminated in their mar-
riage in Rockport, Massachusetts, on Aug. 30, 1910.

There the bride met and surmounted many obstacles. Her husband was
the only Finnish clergyman in New England, which necessitated a strenuous
program of traveling from one corner of his pastorate to another. Mrs.
Lipsanen held the reputation of managing one of the most hospitable Finnish
parsonages in this country.

But Mrs. Lipsanen never allowed herself to sutler from “housework
ennui’’. In 1914 she spent a few months in Finland on a speaking tour. The
twenty-five years that she and her husband spent together were tilled to the
brim with activities. Somewhere Mrs. Lipsanen learned enough music to
direct a church choir and presently she found herself rendering solos at church
functions. She orated upon other subjects besides temperance. She used her
remarkable mathematical powers in her calculations for food supplies for
church dinners. She had an uncanny ability that enabled her to order food
correctly to the ounce.

In her school days she had learned Swedish, Russian, French and German.
Now she passionately studied English and at the time of her death had at
her command an extensive reading and writing vocabulary in that language.

Mr. and Mrs. Lipsanen moved to Fairport Harbor, Ohio in 1913. There
Mrs. Lipsanen began a class in English for Finnish immigrants which the
school board eventually took over. She and her husband combined their ener^
gies to direct the building of a new religious edifice, the Suomi Church, a
$76,000.00 structure which at the time of its dedication was entirely free
from debt.

During the World War Mrs. Lipsanen was active in the Red Cross and
later was secretary of the Lake County Chapter of that organization for sev-
eral years. For three years she was on the board of directors of Suomi Col-
lege, a Finnish Lutheran institution. She herself was a religious educator,

WOMEN OF OHIO

449

being for years the head of the Finnish Bible School and superintendent of
the church Sunday School. She took an active interest in young people’s work.

For several years she was the editor of the Finnish newspaper, Amerikan
Sanomat. Her editorial style was crisp, concise, and often biting as she
fought against crime, intemperance, and ignorance.

At the time of her death she was the secretary treasurer of the Lake
County Transportation Company, an inter-city bus line which she helped to
found.

On September 24, 1938, a few weeks after the death of her husband, Mrs.
Lipsanen embarked upon another enterprise — that of finding her Maker, in
behalf of whose teachings she had crusaded her entire life.

MARY LYON

The late REV. MARY LYON, of Cleveland, Ohio was formerly president
of the American Association of Women Preachers. She headed missionary
work of women in the Disciples of Christ Church. The Rev. ANNA C. EAST-
WOOD of Medina, Ohio is a former general secretary of the organization
as is the Rev. MAY E. BULLOCK, of Trotwood, Ohio and the Rev. HAZEL E.
FOSTER, formerly of Cleveland, now of Chicago.

The Rev. Ethel Jay Probst is pastor of the Friends Church of Dayton,
Ohio and the Rev. Jane Carey is president of the Wilmington, Ohio, yearly
meeting of Friends “stated ministers”.

A notable woman pioneer minister of Ohio was the late Dr. Lucy Rider
Meyer, an early graduate of Oberlin and founder of the deaconess movement
in the Methodist Episcopal Church. Dr. Meyer did much to establish the
former Chicago Training School for missions, now part of Garrett Biblical
Institute.

MOTHER EVA MARY

Foundress of the Community of the Transfiguration
A Religious Order of the Episcopal Church.

By SISTER PAULA HARRIET

Come to Glendale, Ohio, near Cincinnati, and visit the Convent of the
Transfiguration and Bethany Home. See the beautiful chapel of gray stone
and the convent ; then look at the cottages, the school and the little shop.

If you have chosen a clear day and a time when school is not in session,
you may see girls of all ages from four to eighteen playing, skating, running,
shouting, with now and then a Sister in blue habit and white veil in charge.
They are the present representatives of a long stream of similar girls who
have lived at Bethany Home in the last forty years. All of these girls —
hundreds of them — rise up and call Mother Eva Mary blessed.

450

WOMEN OF OHIO

Eva Lee Matthews was born at Glendale, Ohio, February 9, 1862. She
was the daughter of Thomas Stanley Matthews (later Justice Matthews of
the United States Supreme Court) and Mary Ann Black.

Her youth was passed among people who loved books ; she was for a
while a student at Wellesley College; she spent her winters in Washington;
she had trips abroad; and from the many sources of culture to which she
had access she seems to have had the rare gift of absorbing the best and of
keeping it.

From early childhood she showed a deep-seated interest in spiritual things,
and as time went on she seemed to care little for the formal society to
which she had access and in which she could easily have been a leader. She
had two brothers and two sisters with whom she always lived on terms of
great affection and understanding. The brothers are Mortimer Matthews ; a
prominent lawyer of Cincinnati and Paul Matthews now Bishop Matthews of
New Jersey; the sisters, Mrs. Gray, wife of Justice Horace Gray, of Boston,
and Mrs. Harlan Cleveland of Cincinnati. Many were the religious and
theological discussions they had together.

In 1891 Eva Lee Matthews went with her brother Paul to help with an
Associate Mission at Omaha, Nebraska. The Rev. Irving P. Johnson (later
Bishop of Colorado) and other young clergymen, nearly all of whom became
famous in due time, formed a working group. Miss Matthews kept house and
worked among the poor. The Mission looked after a parochial school, among
the pupils of which friendships were formed which were lifelong and there
Miss Matthews met the woman who was to become her co-foundress of the
Community and her successor.

Miss Matthews and her brother left Omaha in 1894, and in 1895 took
an extended trip abroad visiting Palestine, from which journey came her
book, “A Little Pilgrimage to Holy Places.”

1896 found her beginning a new work in Cincinnati — Bethany Mission
House, Freeman Avenue. It was here Eva Lee Matthews and BEATRICE
HENDERSON started their great service. They were making plans for a
religious order and began as postulants, living by rule and wearing the
habit in this downtown Cincinnati Mission. On August 6, 1898, the two
postulants were clothed as novices by Bishop Vincent. They were named
Sister Eva Mary and Sister Beatrice Martha. The Community of the Trans-
figuration had come into being.

The work among the poor and with sick children was continued in
Cincinnati for a time, then moved to Glendale, where the present convent
and Bethany Home are situated. The community has grown slowly but
steadily. It now has branch work in Wuhu, China; in Honolulu; at Paines-
ville, Ohio ; at Cleveland, and a mission among the negro population of
Woodlawn, near Glendale. Mother Eva Mary was the Superior of the order
until her death in July, 1928.

MOTHER EVA MARY

Founder of Sisters of the Transfiguration of the Protestant Episcopal Church

WOMEN OF OHIO

453

All this is but a sketch. To tell of the versatility of the Rev. Mother
Eva Mary would take a volume in itself. How she loved children and how
they loved her ; the stories she told them ; the fairy tales she wrote for them ;
her fine sense of humor; her gift of joy; her profound intellect; her sound
judgment in matters great and small ; her sweet serenity. A something in-
describable, which set her apart from ordinary humanity and yet never gave
one a sense of aloofness — a spiritual charm.

She wrote many books of stories, mediations and religious articles as
yet unpublished. Among her published works are: “Community Life for
Women”; “Genesis and Evolution’’ and “The Book of Job.”

A life of Mother Eva Mary has been written by her sister, Mrs. Harlan
Cleveland, which gives a full account of her childhood and her spiritual
growth. But there is yet to be written a biography that will do justice to her
great service in founding the Community of the Transfiguration where “her
works do follow her.”

SAHA VARLEY McCARTHY

SARA VARLEY McCARTHY (Mrs. Eugene McCarthy), of East Cleve-
land, Ohio was one of 15 women appointed by Bishop Joseph Schrembs about
15 years ago to organize the Cleveland Diocesan Council of National Council
of Catholic Women, which she has served continuously ever since.

For the past three years she has been president of the Cleveland Diocesan
Council and is now also a member of the national board, as representing the
1 Province of Cincinnati, which includes all dioceses in the States of Ohio and
I Indiana, and is chairman of the press and publicity committee of the National
I Council.

Space is lacking to list the many tasks which prepared and qualified this
! outstanding Ohio woman for discharge of the duties and obligations of her
1 present leadership. But so highly was her work regarded that in 1935 Mrs.
McCarthy was chosen chairman of the Women’s Committee for the Seventh
National Eucharistic Congress, held in Cleveland. At that time she directed
a corps of 5,000 women, each with a definite job to do.

How well these jobs were done was realized when, October 31, 1936,
Sara McCarthy was decorated with the gold medal “Pro Ecclesae et Pontificc”

| by Pope Pius XI. This honor is conferred by the Catholic Church only on
[laymen and women who have given truly distinguished service.

The head of the Cleveland Diocesan Council of Catholic Women was
trained in other interesting fields, notably in newspaper work. She was for
j 10 years on the staff of the Youngstown Telegram as general reporter, working-
under Samuel G. McClure, who had come to know of the ability of Sara
[McCarthy some years previous. She had then been in the circulation depart-
ment of the paper but had gone from there to the business department of
| the Truscan Steel Company. It is said that they had to drag her back,

454

WOMEN OF OHIO

practically, to the newspaper. But she went — and saw and conquered all she |
covered, from page one news to letters of the lovelorn.

Sara, the daughter of John and Mary Cavanaugh Varley, knew Youngs- I
town. She was born there. She was one of nine children and this, too, proved
pretty valuable training. Credit for her formal schooling, which has enabled ;
her to deal competently with any academic side of her official responsibilities, [
goes to the Ursuline Nuns of Youngstown, in whose class-rooms Sara absorbed j
readily the fundamentals of a liberal education.

Her newspaper work helped to provide Sara with a wide and varied
knowledge of social, educational, and welfare activities of the women of her
State, and in 1931 she married a newspaper man, Eugene McCarthy of
Cleveland.

She was called on to fill many important positions in women’s organi- I
zations before her appointment as president of the Cleveland Diocesan Council, i

She has served, besides on the following boards — Cleveland Chapter ;
American Red Cross; Case Council Committee of the Cleveland Welfare A
Federation; Advisory Board of the Schools Division, representing parochial
schools for the Cleveland Community Fund ; Publicity chairman of the ex-
ecutive committee of the Catholic Big Sisters ; member of the Advisory Board
of the Cleveland Diocesan Catholic Charities ; member of the board of the i
Catherine Horstmann Training Home for Girls; chairman of the Women’s
committee for the Cleveland Diocesan Catholic Charities.

So Sara McCarthy’s name has become known as that of a woman
who can and will see through any service she can be persuaded to undertake. '
To see it through, moreover, in a spirit of comradeship which has won her i
countless friends throughout her own state and in almost every other.

MRS. E. W. McCASLIN

MRS. E. W. McCASLIN, the wife of a Presbyterian pastor, founded the
Bucyrus King’s Daughters.

In 1899, she organized a group of 18 young girls from the Presbyterian
congregation, after they had expressed a desire to charity work within the
church.

Four years later, this group, known as In-As-Much Circle of King’s
Daughters, opened its membership to young women outside the denomination.

Membership increased and so did activity until the circle became the
leading charitable organization in the city and continued as such until other
groups accepted some of the load.

Approximately 200 King’s Daughters now compose the City Union.

Outside of the church and King’s Daughter’s Work, Mrs. McCaslini
confined her activities to the home.

WOMEN OF OHIO

455

ETHEL BLOCH MILLER

ETHEL BLOCH MILLER, teacher of the Isaac M. Wise Temple Re-
ligious School, Cincinnati, 0., is a native of Cincinnati, the daughter of
Daniel and Annabelle Bloch. She was graduated from the Hebrew Union
College for Teachers, attended the University of Cincinnati and began her
educational work at the religious school of Plum Street Temple in 1913. She
is a former president of the Federation of Jewish Women’s Clubs of Cin-
cinnati and of the Ohio Federation of Temple Sisterhoods. Her residence is
3504 Burnet Ave., Cincinnati.

MARY E. MOXCEY

MARY E. MOXCEY, assistant editor of the church school publications
of the Methodist Book Concern of Cincinnati, was born in Atchison, Kansas.
She won her Bachelor of Arts degree at Syracuse University, where she
also became a member of Omicrom Beta Kappa, gained her Master’s degree
at Oberlin College and her Doctor of Philosophy degree at Columbia University.

Before entering the editorial field Miss Moxcey was an inspector for the
New York state board of charities and for nine years a secretary of the Young
Women’s Christian Association. She also held a professorship in the Oxford
College for Women and in Boston University. After coming to Cincinnati
she was a director here of the Young Women’s Christian Association for a
number of years and was also a counselor of the Religious Education Asso-
ciation. She later assumed the duties of her present position as assistant
editor of the church school publications of the Methodist Book Concern and
for some years she has served on the curriculum-making committees of the
church school of the Methodist Episcopal Church and of the International
Council of Religious Education.

A number of the books and articles which Miss Moxcey has written have
challenged wide attention, among these being “Girlhood and Character,”
“Parents and Their Children” and the “Psychology of Middle Adolescence.”
She has been an extensive contributor to the Church School Journal and other
I religious educational publications.

The breadth and nature of her interests is further shown in her mem-
bership connection with the American Association of University Women,
(was formerly president of the Cincinnati branch for two years) and the
American Academy of Political and Social Science. She finds recreation in
I mountain climbing and relaxation in the collection of limericks.

HATTIE AND MATTIE NOYES

Among the Ashland county women who engaged in missionary work in
foreign lands were HATTIE and MATTIE NOYES, former teachers in the
Ashland Union schools, who were for many years in the work in China. Mattie
| Noyes married a wealthy physician who gave a hospital in China for the
work of missionaries.

WOMEN OF OHIO

456

FLORA PRINCE

FLORA PRINCE, treasurer of the board of trustees, Women’s Missionary
Society of the United Lutheran Church of America, was born at Springfield,
Ohio, the daughter of Benjamin Franklin and Ellen Prince. She attended
Wittenberg College, which conferred her A. B. and M. A. degrees. Miss Prince
was formerly president of the women’s missionary society of the Lutheran
Church and has served on its board of education and is active in the American
Association of University Women. Her home is at 644 Wittenberg Ave.,
Springfield, Ohio.

ANNIE BIGELOW SEARS

ANNIE BIGELOW SEARS, born in Bucyrus in 1852, was a member of
the first class to graduate from Bucyrus High School, in 1870. After graduat-
ing from Mt. Union college in Alliance, 1874, she taught at Kent, Ohio for
several years and then went to Peking, China, as a missionary and teacher
for the Methodist Church. She remained there for 15 years, when she returned
to Ohio. She died in Cleveland in 1895.

KATHERINE PHILLIPS SMICKLER

KATHERINE PHILLIPS SMICKLER (Mrs. Samuel Smickler), of Cincin-
nati, Ohio, has an unusually full record of organization activities centered
chiefly on the educational and religious affairs of the city in which she lives.

President for several years of the Cincinnati section of the Council of
Jewish Women, she has served also as a board member of the Rockdale Temple
Sisterhood; as treasurer and historian of the Ruth Lodge. In 1936-37, she
was program chairman of the Council of Jewish women, acting, in addition,
as head of the personnel committee. A trustee of the Rockdale Avenue Temple,
she is a leader in the affairs of that progressive and important congregation.

In the educational field, her influence is especially active. As president of
the Windsor and of the Rockdale Temple Parent Teachers Association; as
secretary of the Federation of Mothers Clubs ; as chairman of the Girls Hobby
Fair ; as a member of the Citizens School Committee ; as publicity Chairman
of the Council of Club presidents, she has served the youth of her city and
her state wisely and well.

ETHEL LYLE SMITHER

ETHEL LYLE SMITHER, one of America’s leaders in religious educa-
tion, lives in Cincinnati, and is connected with the Methodist Book Concern,
a publishing house in that city.

Educated at the University of Richmond, she is now internationally known
as a writer and lecturer. Practically every Protestant denomination in the

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United States, Canada and Mexico, uses her books for teachers of Sunday
School, and her syndicated magazine material for children.

As editor she publishes the “ Elementary Magazine”, for teachers; “ First
Steps in Christian Nurture”, for parents; and “Junior Weekly”, for children.

In addition to these activities, she is a member of the International Coun-
cil of Religious Education ; serves on a number of international committees ;
is a constant contributor of articles and fiction to national magazines. She has
lectured, moreover, in every state of the Union.

ANNA SHELDON SWETLANI)

REV. ANNA SHELDON S WETLAND, (1850-1928) was an ordained
minister of the Christian Church, and resided at Sparta, Morrow County
during her entire life.

For a number of years she was also a state lecturer for the Ohio Women’s
Christian Temperance Union. In June 1910, she was one of the Ohio delegates
to the World’s W. C. T. U. convention in Glasgow, Scotland; and! later in the
same month represented the Women’s Home and Foreign Missionary Board of
the Christian Church of the United States and Canada at the World’s Mis-
sionary Conference at Edinburgh, Scotland.

Mrs. Swetland’s death occurred in 1928 at her home in Sparta,

ELLA MAE TALMAGE

A little more than thirty-six years ago, ELLA MAE TALMAGE, great-
niece of the late Dr. T. DeWitt Talmadge of Brooklyn, N. Y., one of the great
preachers of his time, founded the Hope Gospel Mission in Cincinnati in a
house known in the neighborhood at the time as the “Haunted House”, at
the corner of Hill and Gladstone Avenue. The Mission was inaugurated with
meager, borrowed funds, but with courage and faith. Its purpose was to bring
the consolations of religion and practical help to those in need.

Experience gained the first three months proved conclusively to Miss
Talmage that the Mission was needed, and, on August first of the same year,
the enterprise was moved to Third and Sycamore Streets in a building that
I had been a saloon. Miss Talmage had as her assistant, Miss Knell. They
j borrowed buckets from people in the tenements above and with plenty of soap,
i scrub-brushes and rags they scrubbed the dirty floors and walls, printed a
I sign on wrapping paper, and announced that a Mission would be opened.

; When the meeting began, one hundred and fifty people of the tenements were
present.

Without money for the continuance of her work or for her personal use,
Miss Talmage and her assistant decided that they must earn it. They found
work from 10 :30 in the morning to 2 :00 in the afternoon for five days in the
week at a restaurant. Their pay was $16.00 a month each, their dinners, and

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rolls to carry home for their breakfast. With their combined pay of $32.00
a month they paid the rent of the Mission Hall and the gas bill. They lived
in one room, 2 y 2 miles away from the Mission and walked to work. They
climbed stairs in the old tenement houses, visited the poor, neglected and dis-
couraged. Each night a song service was conducted outside the Mission fol-
lowed by an Evangelistic service inside.

Years passed, the work grew. Need of specialized care of adolescent girls
from underprivileged homes was early recognized by Ella Mae Talmage.
She interested leading citizens, money was contributed, then a fine old home
on the outskirts of the city. This became ‘‘Hope Haven” for the past 15
years one of the outstanding social services of Cincinnati.

But Hope Gospel Mission continued to head up the vital enterprise.

During its thirty-six years of service, the Mission has cared for and
housed more than 5,000 girls and women, has administered to thousands of
unfortunate people including the prisoners at the Hamilton County Jail. In
the latter institution Miss Talmage served as Chaplain from 1904 to 1935.

Now new changes are in prospect. A new program adapted to the needs
and methods of the present, is being worked out by Ella Mae Talmage and
her board of trustees. Ella Mae is the only living incorporator of the original
Hope Gospel Mission. But she is still efficient, still enthusiastic, still eager
to carry onward her great spiritual adventure.

ISABELLA THOBURN

ISABELLA THOBURN, one of the founders and first superintendent of
Christ Hospital, lead a fine and colorful life. Born in 1840, in Belmont County,
Ohio, she began life as a young country school teacher, then served as a
nurse during the Civil War.

In 1869 she was appointed by the Women’s Foreign Missionary Society
of the Methodist Episcopal Church as its first missionary to India, where her
brother James had for some time been located, also in the service.

Her particular assignment was to organize a high school for girls. She
was eminently successful at this task, but her health broke down shortly, forc-
ing her to return to the United States. Miss Thoburn became Deaconess and
later Superintendent of the Deaconess Home in Chicago, 111. In 1888 she came
to Cincinnati, where she was instrumental in founding the Elizabeth Gamble
Deaconess Home Association and Christ Hospital, of which she became the
first Superintendent, serving from 1888 to 1890. Later she returned to India,
where she died in 1901.

MARY MOORE DABNEY THOMSON

MARY MOORE DABNEY THOMSON (Mrs. Alexander Thomson) came
to Cincinnati in 1904 when her father, Dr. Charles William Dabney, resigned
as the president of the University of Tennessee to become president of the

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459

University of Cincinnati. Her mother, Mary Brent Dabney, a Kentuckian of
rare charm and personality, provided, with her distinguished husband, a back-
ground of unusual dignity and cultivation for the two young daughters of
the family, one of whom, Mrs. John W. Ingle, Jr., is now dean of women at
the University of Cincinnati. The other, shortly after coming to Cincinnati,
married Alexander Thomson, now chairman of the board of the Champion
Paper and Fiber Company. They have four sons, Alexander, Jr., Charles
Dabney, Lewis Clark and Chilton.

Mary Moore Thomson has identified herself especially with the work of
the Young Women ’s Christian Association. A member of the national board
of directors, she has served locally as vice president, treasurer, chairman of
the promotion committee and president. She has also been a leader in the
annual Community Chest Campaigns, both as a member of the executive com-
mittee and as chairman of organization of the Women’s Crusade. She more-
over performed an outstanding piece of work in 1937-38 as chairman of the
Women’s Symphony Committee in a successful effort to obtain greater attend-
ance for the orchestra.

Mary Moore Thomson is in every sense a leading citizen, upholding the
finest traditions of understanding service to the city in which she and her
family live.

HANNAH TRIMBLE AND HANNAH KIMBERLY

HANNAH TRIMBLE and HANNAH KIMBERLY of Mt. Pleasant were
the first women to travel as Friends ministers in pioneer Ohio and the North-
west territory. They were brilliant women enthusiastic in spreading the
doctrine of George Fox. They were also colportinrs and visited Quaker settle-
ments in Ohio, traveling on horseback.

They lived in the heyday of 1 Quakerism when Mt. Pleasant was the
Western Capitol of this faith. They saw a church built there with walls thick
enough for a fort. They preached to meetingsi where the men sat on one side
of the room and the women on the other.

“Thee” and “Thou” was then in common use in conversation and the
quaint Quaker gray was worn by women. Bonnets were decorous headgear.
The men wore wide brimmed hats and “jeans”. Colerain, Flushing, Smithfield,
Richmond, Emerson, Salem, Westwood and Damascus were Quaker centers
in eastern Ohio to which these women ministered.

They saw the “underground railroad” for escaping slaves. They spread
anti-slavery doctrines wherever they went. Many eastern Ohio Quakers had
come from Pennsylvania but quite a number of them from North Carolina,
leaving the latter state because of slavery.

These women saw the first silk mill in the United States started by Quakers
and the first “labor” store in the country. In these stores no product of slave
labor was sold.

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WOMEN OF OHIO

They saw Benjamin Lundy’s original antislavery paper “The Genius of
Universal Emancipation” started and issued at Mt. Pleasant. Over in a valley
near Bloomfield they witnessed the planting of the first manumitted (free)
colony of slaves called “Hayti”, also “McIntyre”.

Spectacular events were part of their daily lives and their ministerial
careers were full of significant happenings.

Then came the “Hicksite” split in their church, the “Gurney-Wilbur ”
division.

And finally time took its toll and their church was modernized, but their
quiet courage will never be forgotten.

ALICE MOON WILLIAMS

ALICE MOON WILLIAMS, now a resident of Oberlin, Ohio, is a native
of Ashland who engaged in missionary work in China for many years. During
the Boxer uprising in 1900, while she and her three small daughters were in
Ashland on furlough, her husband, the Rev. George Williams, was slain in
China. One of her daughters, GLADYS WILLIAMS, is now a missionary in
the province of Shansai, China. Mrs. Williams was born in Ashland May 22,
1860, was educated in Ashland schools and became a teacher in the old Central
building in the middle 80 ’s. Later she taught at the East Fourth street build-
ing and was a teacher in the Trinity Lutheran Sunday School.

It was while she was in China that she served as a great influence on
the life of Dr. II. H. Kung, who, after graduating from Oberlin, returned to
China and later became its premier.

OLYMPHIA BROWN WILLIS

OLYMPHIA BROWN WILLIS, first officially ordained woman minister
of the United States, was born in Prairie Ronde, Michigan, January 5, 1835,
the daughter of Asa B. and Lephia O. Brown. Her first education was under
the tutelage of her mother who read Horace Greeley’s New York Weekly Tri-
bune in which were accounts and discussions of the liberal ideas of the age,
including such subjects as Woman’s Rights, Dress Reform, Anti-Slavery,
Water-Cure and many others now adopted or long since forgotten. Thus at
an early age, the leaders in the Woman’s Rights movements, Lucy Stone,
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and especially, Susan B. Anthony with whom she
worked in later years became familiar and inspiring names. Her ambition
seems to have been especially stirred by reading of the Rev. Antoinette
Brown’s preaching. Years later in 1863, Olymphia Brown’s aspiration was
crowned by being the first woman of her race in America to be ordained by a
regular organized ecclesiastical body.

After a year at Mt. Holyoke where she felt the lack of freedom in reli-
gion and other too strict regulations, her family moved to Yellow Springs,

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461

Ohio, where Antioch College, then recently founded by the Christian Denom-
ination, offered equal educational rights to men and women under the leader-
ship of the internationally known educator, Horace Mann. In Antioch
Olymphia Brown found the freedom she sought and graduated in 1860 with
five other women in a class numbering twenty-eight.

With the ministry still in mind she entered the Theological School of St.
Lawrence University at Canton, N. Y., the only theological school that would
admit a woman, from which she graduated in 1863, and the same year was
ordained to the ministry of the Universalist Church. She held pastorates at
Weymouth, Mass., Bridgeport, Conn., Racine, Wis., and at a number of other
places in the west.

She was married in 1873 to John Henry Willis, but retained her maiden
name of Brown. In 1878 with her husband and her children, she removed from
Bridgeport, Conn., to Racine, Wis., where she became pastor of the Church of
the Good Shepherd. On her husband ’s death in 1893, she became secretary and
treasurer of the Time Publishing Company, managing the daily and weekly
newspaper and large job printing office at Racine. She served as president of
the Wisconsin Woman’s Suffrage Association 1887-1917; president of Federal
Suffrage Association; life member of National American Suffrage Association.
For many years she was directly associated with Susan B. Anthony and the
author of numerous tracts. In 1911 she published “Acquaintances Old and
New Among Reformers.” She died October 23, 1926.

MRS. EUGENE McCARTHY

Director for Ohio of National Council of
Catholic Women, Cleveland

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463

CATHOLIC WOMEN OF OHIO

By SARA YARLEY McCARTHY (Mrs. Eugene McCarthy)
Director for Ohio of National Council of Catholic Women

Ohio had not come of legal age as a State when, in 1821, Pope
Pius VII, head of the Catholic Church and stationed in Rome, the
Eternal City, sent word to America of the establishment of a new
diocese. This diocese would include the entire area of Ohio and Mich-
igan and would have as its first bishop Father Edward Fenwick. The
new Bishop was a native born sixth generation American, a member
of the Dominican Order, and the founder and the first superior of the
American foundation of the Religious Order of Saint Dominic.

Father Fenwick had already earned for himself the title of
“ Itinerant Preacher/ ’ and “Apostle of Ohio/’ because of his con-
tinuous travels throughout the State, riding horseback, and seeking
out “lost sheep” in the Ohio wilderness. He was known to be absent
from his convent home at Springfield, Kentucky (a site which he
purchased from his own patrimony in 1806), for a period of two years
at a time, with his only shelter the forests of Ohio, and his only
companions, his faithful horse, his breviary, and his priest’s equipment
! carried in a knapsack over his saddle.

Pope Pius VII signed the papers June 19, 1821, declaring all of
Ohio and Michigan included in the territory of the new diocese. Means
of communication were not prompt in those days. It was months later
before formal word reached Father Fenwick, and it was not until
J anuary of 1822, that he was consecrated Bishop of the Catholic Church
; and placed in charge of the new diocese of Ohio, with the episcopal
see established at Cincinnati.

It was Pope Pius’ successor, Pope Leo XII, who was to give
spiritual and financial assistance that would enable Father Fenwick
to lay a strong foundation for religion in the State of Ohio. However,
it was not until the arrival of the Sisters of Charity in Cincinnati
from Emmittsburg, Maryland, eight years later, in October of 1829,

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WOMEN OF OHIO

followed three months later by the Sisters of Saint Dominic from
Springfield, Kentucky, who located in Somerset, Ohio, that women’s
work in the development of the Catholic Church in Ohio became an
integral part of the Church’s program.

It is interesting to observe that this work was accomjdished
through organized groups composed of women who had foresaken all
the pleasures of the world, who had voluntarily forfeited the joys and
the pleasures of family life and friends, and who had dedicated them-
selves entirely to the services of God in religion.

Both of these religious communities were of American origin. The
Sisters of Charity was founded in 1808 by the illustrious Elizabeth
Ann Bayley Seton of New York, a widow who was a convert to the i
Catholic Faith from the Episcopalian religion. Upon the death of her
husband in Italy, whence she had accompanied him with their five
children in the interests of his health, Mrs. Seton found it necessary
to return to America and to seek some source of income for rearing
her children. A small school was founded by her in Baltimore, Mary-
land. Soon other women of scholastic training equal to Airs. Seton ’s,
joined with her to assist her in teaching and from this group of women j
was founded the Sisters of Charity.

The motive for the organization of such a community is best ex-
pressed by Mrs. Seton : “To honor our Lord Jesus Christ as the Source
and Model of all Charity, by rendering to Him every temporal and
spiritual service in our power, in the person of the poor, the sick, the .
prisoners, the insane, and others in distress.”

One needs but to read the history of the Sisters of Charity, its
growth and development here in Ohio, and its expansion beyond Ohio’s
border, to fully appreciate how faithfully have the Sisters of Charity
lived up to the ideal prescribed by their Foundress.

The Sisters of St. Dominic, while an American foundation of only |
eight years organization, having been founded in Springfield, Kentucky,
in 1822 by Reverend Thomas Wilson, O.P., may be traced back to the
early part of the 13th century, when St. Dominic, a Spanish priest,
established in 1206 a monastery at Prouille to protect women from
the evils of heresy and the machinations of heretics.

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465

The Order of Preachers, which is another name for the Dominican
Order of Priests, was founded by Saint Dominic also as an agency for
uprooting heresy and defending the Catholic Faith, principally against
the Albigenses heresy.

Both of these religious communities were followed in quick suc-
cession by other religious groups of women, mostly from Europe, and
immediately these groups also became an important and integral part
in the early building of Ohio. Their influence grew to such an extent
that in less than a generation of time, other foundations were formed
from these Ohio foundations with the result that the religious frontiers
moved westward from Ohio. Today there is scarcely a state west of
the Mississippi and south of the Ohio River that is not now or that
has not been the beneficiary at some time or another of these pioneer
foundations in Ohio. Their work has penetrated to the furthermost
points of Alaska and beyond the seas into China, Japan, India and
Egypt.

Their achievements in Ohio is best illustrated by the many or-
phanages for the orphaned and dependent child; by hospitals of all
kinds including those for the incurable, the sick poor of all races and
creeds; by homes for the aged poor unable to pay, and for the aged;
for the delinquent girl; for the unwed mother and her child. In fact,
no type of service which is known to heal the wounds or to alleviate
the suffering of mankind lias been overlooked. The soldiers on the
battlefields, the prisoners in the jails, those ill of contagious diseases
in pest houses and other isolated hospitals, even the sick and isolated
poor of the mountain regions bordering on Ohio, reaching into Ken-
tucky, have been the beneficiaries of the devoted service of these women
in religion.

Father Fenwick, on a borrowed $300, went to Rome for help. He
arrived there on September 26, 1823, two days before the election of
Pope Leo XII. He remained in Rome for the enthroning of Pope
Leo, which took place October 5, and the following day he had his first
audience with the new Pope, in which he poured out his heart, imploring
assistance for the new diocese.

Bishop Fenwick knew Ohio well, having first come into it as early
as 1808 or 1809. During his travels he had come in contact with mem-
bers of his Church, scattered all over the state.

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WOMEN OF OHIO

The newly elected Pope provided him with two priests to assist
in Ohio; the equal of twelve hundred American dollars for traveling
expenses, a trunk of equipment used for religious ceremony valued
at $1,000, and a letter of introduction to the secretary of the newly
organized Society for the Propagation of the Faith which had been
established in Lyons, France, in 1822, just a short time before.

Perhaps we should say that right here women began to play a
role in the Catholic Church in Ohio, for it was a French woman,
PAULINE JARICOT of Lyons, France, who, in 1820, surrounded i
herself with a group of poor French shop girls to set the group to
the task of soliciting from their friends, one cent a week in France
for the Mission program of the Catholic Church. She had received !
a letter from her brother, a seminarian, in which he told of the plight
of the missionary priests of the religious order of which he was j
a member. It was primarily to assist members of her brother’s re-
ligious order that she began this task. However, the idea spread and
the society which she founded is known today as the Society for the
Propagation of the Faith, which has its central headquarters in Rome,
and which has branch offices in every Catholic diocese of the world.
From this tiny seed planted in 1820 by Pauline Jaricot, it took root,
and on May 3, 1822, other groups were formed in other European
countries and were combined into a central headquarters with a scope
for service that today embraces the whole world.

It was to Pauline Jaricot ’s group that Bishop Fenwick presented
his letter of introduction from Pope Leo XII, and it was from this
group that financial assistance to the extent of eight thousand francs
and a promise of annual allocations was obtained. This society con-
tinued its financial assistance to Ohio until 1869 and during this time,
the equivalent of thousands of dollars, in francs, was given.

Jnst as the religious sisterhoods came into Ohio as missionaries,
and later, sent missionaries from their Ohio convent into other fields
where the Catholic Church had need for them, so, too, the dioceses in
Ohio, those organized later, Cleveland, Toledo, and Columbus, with
the Cincinnati diocese, through the larger society for the Propagation
of the Faith, which sprung from Pauline Jaricot ’s group have more
than repaid the financial assistance given so generously in the pioneer

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467

days, and are now assisting in the spread of the Catholic Faith in
other lands. All because of the ingenuity, the vision, and the humble
efforts of a woman — Pauline J aricot of Lyons, France.

Bishop Fenwick visited other countries of Europe pleading the
cause of his new diocese and on his return to America in October, 1824,
he had to his credit : 3,213 pounds in an England bank ; ten trunks of
religious articles valued at 21,000 francs which had been shipped to
America; two other priests, in addition to the two assigned by the
Pope, and a promise from SISTER PAUL, a Sister of Mercy from
France, who volunteered to come to establish a convent and a school.

The new Bishop had sent word on from Europe to Cincinnati
of the coming of Sister Paul. Largely, perhaps, out of curiosity, the
residents of Cincinnati turned out to welcome her upon her arrival in
Cincinnati in September of 1823. She had sailed from France in July,
and so it was many weeks of travel over rough seas, then by stage
and river, before she reached her destination. A woman wearing the
strange garb of a nun must have created a furore in Cincinnati that
day in that September of long ago.

Only one familiar with the life of a religious in a convent and
with the duties of her religious calling can fully appreciate the sacrifice
of Sister Paul in coming to America, She left the security which her
convent home assured her; she left her family and her friends to travel
unnumbered miles alone, away from friends and surroundings which
she was never to see again. Yet she did what countless thousands of
women have done since the third century, when the first convent for
women was established, even to the present day, when Catholic young
women continue to respond to the call of their Divine Master, “Come,
follow Me!” and leave all, father, mother, family and friends, to dedi-
cate their life to His service.

Sister Paul was only twenty-two years of age. She had scarcely
located in Cincinnati when she was joined by ELIZA ROSE POWELL
of Springfield, Ky., who had studied with the Sisters of Charity of
Nazareth, Ky.

Miss Powell was of the same age. Together they opened the first
school in Ohio under Catholic auspices at Cincinnati, with a school
enrollment of twenty-five. Miss Powell never became a nun, but taught

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WOMEN OF OHIO

in Catholic owned schools in Cincinnati, Canton and other cities in
Ohio. Three years later, Sister Paul died following a long illness, and
her dream of establishing a convent that would attract other women
to dedicate their lives to religion died with her.

However, this was to be deferred a short time only, as the Sisters
of Charity of Emmitsburg, Md., had consented in October of 1829 to
come to Cincinnati in response to numerous requests of Bishop Fen-
wick.

Again it was in no spirit of adventure or with no assurance of a
life of luxury or a life of comfort, that prompted the first group of
four Sisters of Charity to locate in Cincinnati.

Bishop Fenwick in his letter to the superior stated his need for
Sisters to care for orphaned children and by way of inducement wrote
to say that “A Mr. M. P. Cassilly and others would provide a good
and comfortable house, rent free, together with the sum of $200.00
annually towards their support, and a refund, if required of all ex-
penses of their journey from Emmitsburg to Cincinnati. ’ ’

The Reilly family of Cincinnati extended hospitality to the Sisters
until the promised house of Mr. Cassilly was ready to receive them,
which was some two weeks later. The home was a two story frame
house, opposite the cathedral on Sycamore St., and soon became over-
crowded with the advent of the five orphans who were awaiting ad-
mittance and the six students who enrolled in the school, which was
now also part of the Sisters* program.

Prior to the opening of the orphanage by the Sisters of Charity,
three Poor Clare nuns had come from Belgium in 1826, to care for the
orphans and had joined with Sister Paul in the school work of the
city by establishing a school with seventy pupils and assisting also in
giving religious instructions on Sunday to poor children. Two of these,
SISTER FRANCOISE and SISTER VICTOIRE remained only until
1828 when they left for Pittsburgh to locate there, and, the third,
SISTER ADOLPHINE, remained in Cincinnati. Later she obtained
release from her religious vows, donned the garb of the women of that
day, assumed her family name of Melangie, and became a director ot'
the Cathedral choir. Within a period of seven years, from 1829 to 1836,
it was necessary for the Sisters of Charity to change residence three

WOMEN OF OHIO

469

different times, to meet the growing demands and within this period,
they had established their convent, an academy for girls, and the
orphanage for girls.

The Sisters of St. Dominic, an American foundation which was
founded in 1822 at Springfield, Ky., as an auxiliary of the Dominican
Order of priests which were established by Bishop Fenwick at Spring-
field in 1806, was next to come to Ohio, falling in line at Somerset,
Ohio, at a site which had been made possible through a gift of land in
1818 from CATHERINE DITTOE and her husband Jacob.

The Dominican Sisters came to Somerset just three months after
the arrival of the Sisters of Charity at Cincinnati. They left their
Kentucky monastery on Jan. 11, 1830 and did not arrive at Somerset
until Feb. 5, 1830, but by the 25tli of Feb., they took a small house
which had been purchased for them, and on April 5, opened the first
novitiate in Ohio to become the place of training for young women
desirous of devoting their life to religion. Before the close of that
year, the school which they established was incorporated under the
laws of Ohio and known as “St. Mary’s Female Literary Society.”

The school, first established as a day school, and, later, a day and
boarding school, attracted pupils from as far away as Wheeling, W.
Va., as well as from cities in Ohio and by the winter of 1831, just a
little less than two years after their establishment in Somerset, a
three story convent and school had to be built.

The first novice was ROSE LYNCH of Zanesville, Ohio, whose
three sisters, whose brother, and whose mother, following widowhood,
became members of the Dominican order. The brother joined the
men’s order at Springfield, Ky., while the sisters joined the Somerset
convent. It was at a time when Sister Rose Lynch was Superior,
between the years 1862 and 1873, that her mother joined the order and
took the name of Sister Monica,

On the occasion of his elevation to the Bishopric in January,
1822, Bishop Fenwick sent to the Cardinal-prefect of Propaganda in
Rome, a survey of the Catholic Church in Ohio. Included in his letter
was a statement that “Ohio is 264 miles long and 281 miles wide;
having 581,434 inhabitants of which 6,000 are Catholics, scattered
throughout the States.”

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WOMEN OE OHIO

He stated that he built a church in Somerset in 1819, when there
were nine families living in that vicinity. ‘‘The majority of the in-
habitants were sober, industrious and desirous of religious instruc-
tions.” The Catholics entrusted to his care were poor Germans, many
Swiss, and Irish, all of whom, as was the frequent custom of poor
immigrants to America, had committed themselves as bond-servants
for five or six years (in this instance to a shipowner) in order to
defray their expenses to America.”

Thus, we see the humble beginning of the Catholic Church in Ohio,
when the first attempt of organization was begun.

When we survey the state today, we find four dioceses where
before there was only one, a large Catholic population in the State;
four Cathedrals ; many Churches ; 42 convents for women ; many parish
owned parish schools, all taught by members of the religious sister-
hoods, who have their motherhouses in Ohio, and other Sisters whose
motherhouses are in other states ; schools, high schools, and academies,
owned and conducted by the Sisters ; colleges owned and conducted ]
by them; elementary schools; hospitals for those who cannot pay as
well as for those who can pay all or part; business institutes; girls
homes; boys homes; and homes for the deaf. These are the tangible
evidences of more than a century’s accummulation of good works by
Catholic Sisterhoods in Ohio. But their major contributions are in- \
tangible. They are written in the book of Life, and are known only
to God, or to those who were the immediate beneficiaries of their
teachings, of their ministrations in orphanages, in hospitals, in prisons, ;
and in every place where there was human suffering. They are no j
respector of persons, class, creed or color.

While the first two religious communities to come to Ohio, the I
Sisters of Charity and the Sisters of St. Dominic, were composed of
American born women, other religious communities that followed al-
most in quick succession came from Europe ; France, Germany, Belgium,
Switzerland and Ireland, being among the countries. These women
came bearing with them centuries of traditions from their own con-
vents, some of which were flourishing long before Ohio as a state was
ever dreamed of, or before the Northwest territory was discovered.

They were convent bred women, highly educated in the arts and I
in the sciences, and most of them were reared in an atmosphere of

WOMEN OF OHIO

471

culture, refinement, and with conveniences of living, ordinary for that
day, but luxuries in comparison with anything that a new country and
new people, total strangers to them, and in some instances, even
antagonistic to them, could possibly offer. Yet these women foresook
all and of their own free will came to Ohio, to give of their all, in
building out of the wilderness, part of a new world and a new people !

Theirs was a different motive than that which urged the pioneer
women of the New England colonies and of Maryland and Virginia.
Their new world was to he a spiritual world, with the God whom they
served as its Ruler. They planned to build spiritually as well as
materially. They came alone, with little funds, barely enough to see
them safely to Ohio. They contented themselves with the meagerest
facilities which the small Catholic colonies could afford; they covered
the same route from the east as did the pioneer women, weeks of
travel by coach and by river, which followed many more weeks of
rough sea voyage.

The pioneer woman, fine as was her motive of building anew for
herself and her family, had the companionship of her husband, the
security which he offered her and their children. In many instances,
the trek westward was made in groups so that while the women came
into strange lands, they were not among strangers. They did sutler
great hardships, these women; they lived in terror of the Indians and
of wild animals from the woods, but they looked forward to a future
of schools for the education of their children, of churches in which they
might worship their God according to the dictates of their own con-
sciences, to a plentitude of food tilled from the soil, to employment
that would come from the clearance of the forests, the building of
roads and of canals. With all of this, they were not alone; they had
their husbands, their children, their parents, their relatives or former
neighbors living side by side. The log cabin huts, rudely built though
they were, meant home and a degree of security to these pioneer women.

As one traces the entrance of religious orders into Ohio, one
quickly observes the growth of the Church in that area, where the
Sisters began their establishment. They accepted the most humble of
surroundings, erected therein an altar to the honor and glory of God,
and this spot, bare of everything but absolute necessities, became their

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WOMEN OF OHIO

convent home, and, in many instances, a school for the education of j
the children within the area of the convent.

It is from these humble beginnings that the Catholic Sisterhoods ;
of Ohio have sprung, and as the state of Ohio grew, and in its develop-
ment, the population grew accordingly by immigration from the eastern
colonies and from Europe, the Catholic Church grew proportionately.
With such growth came the need of helpers in the field of religion i
in Ohio.

The religious Sisterhoods have marched down through the past
century of years in triumphant procession, one religious order after
another, taking its place and falling in line, as the need for its services '
arose. Wherever the need was the greatest and wherever it could
serve to the best advantage, there was always a religious community
ready to respond. Their contribution to the development of Ohio,
however, is not alone in the buildings of brick, stone and mortar which
dot Ohio, and which include hospitals, academies and colleges for
women, social settlement houses, schools for the deaf mute; business
girls homes and club houses, convent homes, but is to be found also in
the sound educational programs which they carry on in the parish
schools in the four Catholic dioceses in Ohio, whose episcopal sees are
located in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus and Toledo. In the edu-
cational field alone, just teaching in the parish elementary and high |
schools of them, their financial contribution to education represents
a very large saving to the State of Ohio. Aside from this service of
education in the parochial schools, there is another financial con-
tribution in the number of their own buildings which they own for the
higher education of women, either in academy or college, as well as
the number of religious owned hospital buildings. Many more millions
of dollars are represented here. It is, however, their contribution to
the religious, cultural, social and civic development, a contribution,
which it is beyond human ability to appraise, that earns for these noble
women high places in the Halls of Fame, if such ever be established
to properly acknowledge the work of Women in Ohio.

For summing up all the efforts of these women in religious sister-
hoods, there has been but the one objective — to seek their own salvation
and to work for the salvation of others.

WOMEN OF OHIO

473

Long before the establishment of the Catholic diocese of Ohio,
women began to weave their tapestry of self sacrifice, devotion, and
love for religion in Ohio. Each succeeding generation of Catholic
women down to the present day has contributed to the perfection of
this design of Religion and Service in the tapestry of Life.

The Great Ordinances of 1787, granting religious freedom, and
stressing importance of “RELIGION, MORALITY, AND KNOWL-
EDGE” as necessary to good government and to the happiness of
mankind, whereby “schools and the means of education shall forever
be encouraged,” served as a magnet to attract many colonists from
New England, Maryland, and Virginia, and from France, Germany,
and Ireland. Foremost among these colonists were two families, the
Boyles and Dittoes, whose names are written large in the history of
the Catholic Church in Ohio.

Hugh Boyle, a native of Donegal, Ireland, was forced to flee his
country in 1796, because of his conflict with the repressive laws, and
to seek refuge with his uncle John Boyle at Martinsburg, Virginia.
He had a fine business education and was a devout Catholic. His uncle
placed him in charge of a store at Brownsville, Pennsylvania, where
he came to know Neil Gillespie, a native of Scotland. He was a fre-
quent visitor to the Gillespie home. Aside from the cordial hospitality
and the sympathetic understanding of the two men, there was the
added attraction of ELLEN GILLESPIE, the cultured, well educated
daughter of Neil Gillespie. In 1798 Hugh and Ellen were married, and
set out immediately for Ohio, much against Neil Gillespie’s wishes,
but with his blessings upon the happy pair. They first located at
| Chillicotlie, but eventually established their home at Lancaster, Ohio
in 1801, where Mr. Boyle became prominent in the business life of
that section. With the conferring of state’s right upon that section
i of the northwest territory to be known as Ohio, Boyle was named by
j the new state government as clerk of the Common Pleas Court and
| clerk also of the Supreme Court when it was in session in Fairfield
County. He held this appointment until 1848 when ill health forced
him to resign. Prior to this appointment he had served as justice of
the peace, and county surveyor. MARIA BOYLE, a daughter, was
I born on New Year’s day, 1801. She was to have her part in the re-
ligious and civic drama of Ohio, a generation later.

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WOMEN OF OHIO

In 1802 Jacob Dittoe and liis wife CATHERINE DITTOE, with
liis brother and brother-in-law and their families, came over the moun-
tains by wagon and through the uncleared forests of Pennsylvania and
Ohio to settle in Ohio. They came originally from Baltimore, Maryland
and stopped enroute at Conewago, Pennsylvania to induce others of
their relatives and friends to follow them. A promise was given that
others would come.

The Dittoes had no sooner landed at the site, now known as
Somerset, Ohio, when Jacob Dittoe began to send entreating letters
back to Baltimore, Maryland to Bishop John Carroll, the first, bishop
of the Catholic Church in America, begging for a Catholic priest to
administer to the small colony.

He painstakingly describes his place of residence, and assured
the bishop that should any priest come along that way, there would
be no difficulty in locating him, as he “would need only to inquire of
a Mr. Boyle who lives nearby and who with his family are of the
same church.” He failed to tell the bishop that his “nearby” neighbor,
Mr. Boyle, lived eighteen miles away.

The Dittoes were a confident pair and though their constant pleas
brought only a response that they were being kept in mind and that
everything possible was being done to comply with their wishes, they
began to lay plans for the establishment of a permanent Catholic
parish at Somerset.

They had purchased a large tract of land in 1809, and set aside
one half of it, 320 acres, for church purposes. They cleared the land,
which was described as “the finest kind of limestone land, with trees
of hickory, oak and walnut,” and they built upon this site, reserved
for church purposes, a small chapel of log woods, 22 feet in length and
13 feet in width, a plain one story structure, the ground to serve as
a floor, and, in addition, another log house of two rooms to serve as
the residence for the priests.

It was in this chapel that Father Fenwick offered Mass and ad-
ministered the sacraments, when, as a missionary priest out of Ken-
tucky, he found the Dittoe family in 1809. Legend has it, that on one
of Father Fenwick’s sojourns along the national highway, he heard
the sound of an axe, and turning his horse towards the sound, he

WOMEN OF OHIO

475

followed it. Two miles away from the highway he found the Dittoe
family.

It was not until May 23, 1818 that this property was deeded for
Catholic Church purposes, and it was not until the following December
6, 1818, that the log chapel built upon this land was dedicated as a
church.

On May 23, 1818, Catherine Dittoe, as part owner of the 320 acres,
swore to an affidavit in the Perry County Court, that 4 4 this gift of land
and the buildings thereon was being deeded without fear or coersion
of her husband and of her own free and voluntary wilL ,,

This act of Catherine Dittoe and her husband represents the first
outright gift of land and buildings for Catholic Church purposes in
Ohio, and the deed indicates that there was no monetary remuneration.

This gift however Avas not to be the last, but was to be followed by
other gifts of lands, some from non-Catliolics, and other lands from
the more prosperous of the early Catholic settlers, scattered about in
various sections of Ohio.

From this “ cradle of Catholicity in Ohio,” the church grew as
did the State, for Ohio with its physical advantages of fertile soil,
great forests, healthful climate and great waterways to the south and
to the north, together with the assurance its laws gave for religious
tolerance and education, lured men and women of imaginative minds
and with fearless courage to trek westward from the Atlantic coast,
and even beckoned others from beyond the seas.

In one appeal, published in Baltimore, and composed by a group
of Cincinnati Catholics, in an effort to induce other Catholics to locate
( in Ohio mention is made of a William Lyttle, Esq., who ‘‘is determined
to give encouragement to Roman Catholics and that he appears to us
disposed to give them most liberal encouragement (to purchasers of
our communion) as well as on his lands above alluded to, as on his
other property.” And also that “we have lately succeeded in the
[ establishment of a respectable Roman Catholic Church in this town,
which unhappily has been so long deprived of that important benefit.

“Our object therefore in this, and similar addresses is to inform
emigrants of these circumstances, in order that they may not by re-
ligious considerations be deterred from endeavoring to better their

476

WOMEN OF OHIO

fortunes by coming to the western country, either by settling on the
above lands as agriculturists, or in this town as mechanics or men of
business.”

This notice also mentions that Mr. Lyttle 4 ‘with that liberality for
which he stands distinguished granted a considerable tract of land
for the use and benefit of a Roman Catholic Church to be established
there, in addition to which several of the settlers have contributed
portions of land contiguous to the same, as to form a respectable fund
for the above purpose.”

This land is described as being about “thirty miles from hence,
on the east branch of the Little Miami River.”

It was into this friendly, yet primitive wilderness that Bishop
Fenwick, the “Apostle of Ohio,” came to minister to those of his
religious beliefs.

In 1831 he was able to write in his diary, “My diocese in Ohio
and Michigan is flourishing. It contains 24 priests, missionaries, 22
churches and several more congregations without churches, whereas
fourteen years ago, there was not a church, and I, the only missionary
in the State.”

All of this progress was the result of constant and continuous
service, in which Bishop Fenwick never spared himself, with the result
that while on one of his visits to his parish groups throughout Michigan
and Ohio, in September, 1832, he was stricken with cholera. His weak
condition was noted when he stopped off at Canton, Ohio, where Miss
Powell, who taught in the first Catholic school in Cincinnati, was now
engaged as a teacher. Much against his wishes, she insisted upon
accompanying him back to Cincinnati, making the journey by stage
and by way of Wooster, Ohio. At Wooster, Ohio, his condition became
very grave, and it was necessary to remain there at a hotel, and to
call in two doctors. Miss Powell remained with him to nurse him in the
illness from which he was not to recover and the only account of his
last moments upon earth is in a letter written by Miss Powell to Father
Rese who was one of the first to come to Ohio from France at Bishop
Fenwick’s request in 1823. In her letter, Miss Powell tells that the
doctors, because of their fear of the disease had retired and she was
left alone, although she did state that while there in attendance they

WOMEN OF OHIO

477

were attentive to the utmost. She had sent word to Canton to the
pastor there, Father Henni, to bring the Last Sacraments of the
Church to Bishop Fenwick, but word did not reach Father Henni in
time. So Bishop Fenwick, who had brought the consolation of religion
to so many in life, and as they passed into eternity, was denied the
consolation of the Sacraments of the Church for himself. He died in
Wooster on September 27, 1832.

John Baptist Purcell, Irish born priest, was president of Mount
Saint Mary’s College at Emmitsburg, Maryland, when a story ap-
peared in the Catholic Telegraph on May 11, 1833, to this effect:

“Authentic information received during the week that the Court
of Rome has accorded to us a bishop in confirming the nomination by
our hierarchy of the Reverend John B. Purcell, the talented, amiable,
learned, and pious president of Mount Saint Mary’s College, Emmits-
burg, Maryland, to see of Cincinnati.”

That it was a well authenticated rumor is evident by the fact, that
two months later, on August 2, 1883, Father Purcell was officially
notified of his appointment as the second Bishop of Ohio.

One can easily imagine the anguish of the editor, as he was asked,
“well, when is the new Bishop coming to Cincinnati!” And again his
great joy, when, two months later he was able to publish, “as reported
in these columns, May 11, 1833, the Reverend John Baptist Purcell,
has been officially appointed Bishop of the diocese of Ohio to succeed
our late lamented Bishop Fenwick.” When official information of his
appointment reached Bishop Purcell, he penned these words : ‘ ‘ Humbly
do I hope that Almighty God has not permitted this appointment in
his wrath; but rather in mercy and in the furtherance of the decrees of
| His Divine Providence, wisdom, and love in favor of the growing
j Church in the United States.”

Father Purcell was consecrated Bishop, Oct. 13, in the Baltimore
| Cathedral and the following Nov. 7, he set out for his new field of
labors — Ohio and Michigan, with headquarters in Cincinnati. He ar-
j rived in Cincinnati on Nov. 14, accompanied by Reverend N. D. Young,
a Dominican priest, who was a nephew of Bishop Fenwick and three
seminarians, by the names of O ’Mealy, O’Laughlin and McCallion,
also a Miss Marr who was to be the housekeeper at the Bishop’s
| residence.

478

WOMEN OF OHIO

Another chapter in the history of the Catholic Church in Ohio,
was begun on November 14, 1833, with the installation as Bishop of
( )hio, of Bishop Purcell. Bishop Purcell, as did his predecessor, Bishop
Fenwick, toured the diocese on horseback, through unbroken forests,
fording streams, and in some instances, traveling on railroad hand
cars propelled by devoted Irish railroad workmen.

These efforts were rewarded by growth in the church and in .
1837, he was able to report 24 churches in Ohio ; 16 stations or missions ; j
three years later, there were 40 churches ; two years later 45 churches,
and in another two years in 1844, 70 churches.

He, like his predecessor, found the need for more helpers, and,
again like Bishop Fenwick, he went to Europe, making seven trips in || ■
all during his bishopric, seeking financial help as well as the help of I
priests and nuns.

The first, visit to Europe extended until Aug. 22, 1839, when he
arrived home. He was accompanied by seven priests, one of whom,
Father Lamy, was to play as the leading character in the great drama
of the Southwest and which is so beautifully depicted by Willa Cather, j
in “Death Comes for the Archbishop.” Others in this group were
Fathers Gacon, Machebeuf, Navaroon, Olivette and Huber, the latter, j
a Franciscan priest.

On this first visit of Bishop Purcell to Europe, he visited a number
of European convents for the purpose of having Sisters come to Ohio !
to help in the work of the Church. Several desirable sites had been
given to his predecessor, Bishop Fenwick, for use of the Church, and j
Bishop Purcell was offering these sites as gifts, and as a special in-
ducement to the European Sisters to establish American foundations
of their religious orders in Ohio.

Among the Communities contacted at this time were the Sisters
of Notre Dame de Namur and Madames of the Sacred Heart. When !
the Madames informed him that they could not comply with his request
for at least two years, he importuned the Sisters of Notre Dame de |
Namur to come. The Superior of this order agreed to come with this j I
provision: “That the Sisters be given a suitable house with a garden
for the Sisters, help (financial help, no doubt) for construction of
suitable buildings for the establishment of their work, and transfer j

WOMEN OF OHIO

479

of the title to the property.” This was emphasized later in a letter
to Bishop Purcell from the convent chaplain, Father Varin, who
requested Bishop Purcell to make a formal demand for the sisters,

I and to incorporate into his letter, promise of the compliance with the
: Sisters’ demands, which now included a house with necessary furni-
I ture, and a garden; assurance of assistance, providing the Sisters
I could not obtain support from the pension of scholars and what was
| more important than all else to the Sisters, an opportunity to conduct
| classes for poor children. This last was part of the rule of the Re-
ligious community.

The Bishop had three desirable sites to offer, one at Chillicothe,

I another at Cincinnati, and the third, by far the most desirable, at
Fayetteville. There were three parochial schools, which would enable
| them to fulfill their obligation to teach poor children — but he found
himself at a loss to provide a suitable house with a garden. He must
(have managed somehow as in the early records of the Sisters, con-
cerning their work in Ohio, the historian writes that “attached to their
[house is a garden, no larger than an apron.”

There were eight Sisters who started from Namur Sept, 3, sailed
from Antwerp, Sept, 10, 1840, and arrived in New York, Oct. 19, 1840.
They arrived in Cincinnati, on November 1, in a strange garb, to which
[they had changed from their religious habits, so as not to attract
[attention; that was their motive, but as a matter of fact their costumes
[were so odd that they defeated their own purpose. By the year 1840, in
[the East, at least, and enroute from New York to Ohio, the people had
become more or less accustomed to nuns and their sombre garb.

The Brown County property at Fayetteville was the first offer
yiade to the Sisters, but this the Superior, SISTER LOUIS DE
GrONZAGA, declined to accept, because its great distance in the country
would not permit the Sisters to receive poor children gratis for in-
struction.

The Sisters were then invited to live with the Sisters of Charity,
vho settled in Cincinnati in 1829 and by this time (1840) had become
'yell established. Following six weeks lodgings with the Sisters of
fiiarity, they took possession of the same convent once occupied by
his order, located at Sycamore Street, opposite the Cathedral. This

480

WOMEN OF OHIO

was but a temporary arrangement, however, and before another month
had passed, they had closed a deal for the purchase of the Spencer
Mansion on Sixth Street, between Sycamore and Broadway, and on
January 18, 1841, opened “The Young Ladies Institute and Boarding
School. ”

As with the other two communities, Sisters of Charity and Sisters
of St. Dominic, so too with the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, their
work became known, and the school grew, so that in 1844 they were
enabled to construct their first building.

In the year that Bishop Purcell had been appointed Bishop of
Cincinnati, a group of women organized a religious community in
Loewenberg, Switzerland. Their leader was Mrs. Brunner, mother of
the Reverend Francis de Sales Brunner, of the Order of the Most
Precious Blood, who was the founder of an American branch of the
Fathers of the Most Precious Blood. The religious order of women
was known as the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood. Father Brunner
with seven other priests of his order and some students had come to
Norwalk, Ohio in 1843 to establish an American foundation of his
order and there came in contact with a former nun, a member of the
Divine Providence, who had fled France to America at the time of the
French Revolution. Living a life of seclusion, she contented her-
self with being of service to the small Catholic community, tending
the sick and performing other duties. She learned of the religious
order in Switzerland from Father Brunner, and she immediately sought
the assistance of Bishop Purcell who invited the Sisters to establish a
branch in his diocese. On July 24, 1844, SISTER MARIA ANN AL-
BRECHT, with her daughter ROSA, also a Sister, and a novice,
MARTINA CATHERINE DISCH, arrived at Norwalk, Ohio. They
built a log house near the home of the French woman, but this small
house before long became far too small for them. A convent was built
at New Reigel, in Seneca County, and at this place they opened a
school for girls and an orphanage in 1845. Five years later, in 1850
the original motherhouse was sold in Switzerland, and the foundation
which began in Ohio in 1844 lias since become the central headquarters
for the entire community.

Now comes the entrance into Ohio of a religious order which had
given rise to the writing of more prose and poetry, than has been done

WOMEN OF OHIO

481

for any other religious community. It is the Ursuline Order of Nuns,
a religious group that has more than four centuries of service to its
credit.

It was on the first European visit of Bishop Purcell that he came
in contact with the Ursuline Nuns at their convent in Boulogne-sur-
mer, France. In travelling from England to France he had occasion
to meet two young women who were on their way to the Ursuline
convent school in France. Bishop Purcell accompanied them to their
convent and there he met the chaplain, Father Amadeus Rappe, who
was later to become the first bishop of the diocese of Cleveland, Ohio.
Bishop Rappe and the Nuns at Boulogne-sur-mer were impressed with
the story of the missionary needs in the Ohio diocese, and Bishop
Rappe became so interested that he applied for admission into the
diocese, a request which Bishop Purcell was only too happy to grant.
Bishop Rappe came to Ohio in 1840 as an escort to the eight Sisters
of Notre Dame de Namur and to volunteer for service in Ohio. Bishop
Purcell assigned him to serve in Toledo, Ohio. The lake port towns
were attracting many workmen and their families, many of whom were
of the Catholic Faith, and as quickly as these colonies were discovered,
i just as quickly did Bishop Purcell make every effort to administer to
their spiritual needs.

In 1844, when Father Machebeuf, who came to Ohio in 1839 from
France with the first group of priests whom Bishop Purcell had ob-
tained, found it necessary to attend to business matters in France, he
was commissioned by Bishop Purcell to call on the Ursulines at
Boulogne-sur-mer, for the purpose of obtaining a company of Sisters
to work in Ohio.

The 300 acres of land in Brown County which had been donated
to Bishop Fenwick, while not begging for an occupant (a small sem-
inary for boys had been established there) was in fact, begging for
some group to develop it to the position of usefulness which the donor
lad in mind when it was given.

Another group of Ursulines at Saint Halyre, near Clermont in
j France, were at this time being harassed and persecuted by civic
officials. Word came to them that Ohio was seeking recruits from the
■onvent at Boulogne-sur-mer. It was explained that, should the Bou-

482

WOMEN OF OHIO

logne convent not be willing to respond, or not able to accept, consider- I
ation would be given to the Saint Halyre group. The Saint Halyre J
group of 14 Nuns, was chosen and also two from the Boulogne convent \
who could speak English. All preparations had been made for their
departure on March 1, 1845, when suddenly the city officials of Saint
Halyre began to realize what the departure of the nuns would mean
to the community, so the sub-prefect of the department, the mayor and j
the members of the municipal council appeared at the convent, to
entreat them to remain and to pledge any assistance necessary.

Some of the families of the nuns also intervened, with the result J
that several of the fourteen who had volunteered withdrew their
promise. The departure was delayed until May 4, when eleven Sisters, i
eight from the Saint Halyre group and three from Boulogne, among I
whom was SISTER JULIA CHATFIELD, an English woman; SIS-
TER HYACINTH EIFFE, a novice, and MISS MATILDA DUNN, 5
a postulant, set out. The group arrived in New York, June 2, 1845, l
and in Cincinnati, June 19. Father Machebeuf accompanied the Sisters j
from France.

One can well imagine the test to which the hospitality of MRS. j
DAVID CORR of Cincinnati, was put in finding accommodations for
these eleven women, who were to be her guests for a month or until
such time as the Sisters could make a decision on two sites made to
them, one at Chillicothe and the other in Brown County. A committee
of two Sisters was appointed for each of the two sites, to visit and to
bring back a report. The Sisters were unable to make a decision and
so left it to Bishop Purcell. He decided in favor of the Brown County
site, and on July 21, to the cries of the seminarians who were lodged •
at Brown County, “The French are Coming/’ the seminarians repaired
to Cincinnati and the Ursulines took possession of Brown County.

On this site was a seminary which became the convent and Saint
Martin’s Church became the convent chapel. There was a residence
also for the priests of Saint Martin, Fathers Gacon and Cheymol.
These buildings with 300 acres of land, became the property of the
Ursuline nuns.

Father Rappe who had been stationed at Toledo had hoped to
have the Sisters establish a convent there, but it was to be some years

WOMEN OF OHIO

483

later, before Ursuline Nuns were to establish a convent in Toledo, and
then it was to be a branch from the foundation established in Cleveland.
This was one of the first to come to Cleveland, which city had been
established as a diocese in 1847. Father Rappe was named the first
Bishop.

The Ursulines opened their first boarding school in Brown County,
Oct. 4, 1845. In the meantime they taught school to the children in the
neighborhood. A new convent was built in Sept., 1847.

SISTERS OF ST. DOMINIC

The Sisters of St. Dominic were the first of Catholic women’s orders to
establish a novitiate in Ohio. They established also the first “Female Literary
Institute” — this was in 1830. They arrived in Somerset, Ohio, February 5,
took possession of a small house which had been purchased for them in advance
of their coming, and on April 5 opened a school with an enrollment of forty
pupils. Before the end of the year the school had been legally incorporated
under the name of “St. Mary’s Female Literary Society.”

SISTER ROSE LYNCH of Zanesville, Ohio, who was later to become
Mother Superior of the order (from 1862 to 1873) was the first postulant.

The influence of this order of Nuns spread quickly and many young women
affiliated themselves in order to dedicate their lives to religion. In 1850 two
1 of their number responded to the appeal of Bishop Joseph Alemany, who
had just been appointed Bishop at Monterey, California, to establish a reli-
; gious foundation in his new diocese. This foundation has since developed into
| the Congregation of the Holy Name and has its Mother-House at San Rafael,
California. Bishop Alemany had come to Ohio from Italy in 1840 to assist
| in the mission work here, and it was but natural that he should seek as his
j helpers those whose work he had come to know during his mission work
in Ohio.

The following year, three more Sisters from Somerset went to establish
I St. Agnes Convent in Memphis, Tennessee ; in 1854, four members established
1 a convent in Benton, Wisconsin ; in 1860, four others founded the Community
: of St. Cecelia in Nashville, Tennessee ; in 1873, two of their members estab-
! fished the Congregation of the Sacred Heart, whose motherhouse is now
j located in Houston, Texas.

From each of these foundations, other convents were established, as the
j needs became known; so it is that from this small beginning in Somerset, Ohio
| there has spread an influence that has spanned extensive areas and has reached
into the lives of innumerable people.

The foundress of the Sisters of St. Dominic in Somerset, Ohio, was SISTER
j BENVIN STANSBURY, who with her own sister, ANGELA STANSBURY,

484

WOMEN OF OHIO

and two cousins of the same name, were among the nine young women to
establish the first order of Dominican nuns in the United States in Springfield,
Kentucky. This was in 1822. Although Kentucky was the birthplace for the
order, the Ohio foundation is given credit for having exerted a greater influ-
ence on Catholic education throughout the country.

Father Burns, a member of the Holy Cross order, in his 4 ‘Principles and
Origin and Establishment of the Catholic School System, ” says: “The fact
must be borne in mind in estimating the influence which the> Kentucky estab-
lishment of 1822 has had upon Catholic education in the United States. There
the number of Sisters has never been, comparatively speaking, very large.
The colonies it has sent out have been few. Yet, its direct influence has been
considerable. For instance, the school at Somerset, of which it is the parent,
and which has developed into an independent community not only became
an important center of educational work in Ohio, but gave birth to other
establishments, which in turn became independent centers of educational
activities over wide fields— the Ohio Institution, has in fact, exerted a much
wider direct educational influence than the original motherhouse in Ken-
tucky. ’ ’

A disastrous fire completely destroyed the Somerset Convent in 1868, at
which time the Sisters moved to Columbus, their present location, opened an
academy and continued the work so well begun at Old St. Mary’s at Somerset.

The offer of a site of land in Columbus with financial assistance from
Theodore Leonard of Columbus, if the Sisters would locate there, perhaps
motivated the Sisters to remove their convent to what is now known as “St.
Mary’s of the Springs,” so named because of the number of crystal-clear
springs found on the grounds of their new location.

Bishop Purcell following a visit made to the Somerset School in 1834,
wrote to the Sisters in charge : ‘ ‘ Much of the happy influence exerted here
must be referred to the Boarding and Day School conducted by the pious
association of the Sisters of St. Dominic. The system of education is judi-
ciously concerted and far more extensive than even flattering reports had
taught us to expect. The Catholics and the Protestants of the neighborhood,
as well as Cincinnati, Wheeling, and other distant towns, appear to begin
to appreciate it as it merits. We know of few institutions which more success-
fully aspire to public patronage.”

In 1893, the Sisters of St. Mary’s made application to Rome for a set
of constitutions that would be adapted to the work of the order, and would
be in keeping with the rule of St. Dominic. Pontifical approbation was
accorded and the Sisters have since come to be known as “The Congregation
of American Dominican Tertiaries of the Blessed Virgin.”

MOTHER VINCENTIA ERSKINE, who had entered the community in
1873, was elected Mother-General and served in this capacity for twenty-four
years. She died in 1919. It was she who initiated the adoption of a constitu-

WOMEN OF OHIO

485

tion, and a Religious rule to govern the Religious Order. Mother Vincentia is
referred to as the second foundress of the order. She encouraged the members
of her community and made it possible for them to pursue higher studies, as
well as to achieve high standards of religious life. She was instrumental also
in the formation of the Religious Community known as ‘‘The Dominican Con-
gregation of the Sick Poor,” whose Mother-House is in New York.

The present Mother-General of the Dominicans is MOTHER STEPHANIE
MOHUN, a native of Washington, D. C., but a resident of Columbus, Ohio
since her school days. She attended St. Mary's of the Springs, and upon
completion of her studies in 1888, she entered the novitiate at St. Mary's. She
was elected superior general in 1923, and immediately launched a program
that was to enlarge the educational program of the community. St. Mary’s
of the Springs College was opened in 1924. It is an accredited college. The
following year in 1925 the College of Albertus Magnus was established in
| New Haven, Connecticut.

In 1935, five members volunteered to assist the Dominican Fathers in
! their mission work in the Province of Fukien in China, and within a few
short years, these Sisters have established a school for girls, an orphan’s home,
and a home for the aged women. Two dispensaries are also operated by the
I Sisters, one in Kienow, China, and the other in a city two miles away.

In addition to the two women’s colleges, one in Columbus and the other
in Hartford, the Sisters conduct four academies, one in Columbus, one in
Ossining, New York, one in New York City, and one in New Haven, Con-
inecticut. They teach parish schools in the dioceses of Brooklyn and Pitts-
| burgh and in the Archdiocese of New York, and the schools in their charge
in Ohio are located in East Columbus, Columbus, Lancaster, Newark, Coshoc-
ton, Marietta. Zanesville, and Steubenville. There are five hundred members
I affiliated with the Columbus Mother-House. The Sisters in preparation for
| their educational work, have taken post graduate work in Fordham University,
New York, Catholic University, Washington, Notre Dame University, South
[Bend, Indiana, Ohio State, Yale, and Columbia University.

The Dominican Sisters of the Sick Poor, with convents in Columbus,
Cincinnati, and Springfield, Ohio, was mothered by the Sisters of St. Dominie
I, at St. Mary’s of the Springs, near Columbus.

To His Grace, the Most Reverend John T. McNicliolas, Archbishop of
-incinnati, the Sisters are deeply indebted for his encouragement in their
•arly days and his continued interest and help since.

This work had its beginning in the East Side of New York, in a rented
wo-room apartment occupied by a MISS MARY WALSH, who had come to
| his country from Ireland. In 1885 with three companions, she launched a
program to care for the sick poor in their homes. Their services were given
l-nly to those who were unable to pay.

For their own support, and in order to provide necessities for the poor
mong whom they worked, Miss Walsh opened a public laundry which em-

486

WOMEN OF OHIO

ployed twelve persons, and from the proceeds of this work, she managed to j
carry on.

Archbishop McNicholas, who at the time was master of novices at the j
Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D. C. in 1908, started the neces-
sary proceedings for the formation of a religious congregation. Approbation
was received on July 23, 1919 from the Master general of the Dominican Order
in Rome and approval to establish a novitiate in New York was received from j
the late Cardinal Farley of New York, December 1, 1910.

SISTER FREDERICK A of the St. Mary’s of the Springs Convent in
Columbus was mistress of novices for two years, after which she returned to !
Columbus and Miss Walsh, whom in religion became known as Sister Mary, J
was named superior.

Columbus, Ohio, was to be the first mission of the new religious congre- j
gation, and in 1912, Bishop James J. Hartley of Columbus gave permission
for the Sisters to engage in work in the seat of his episcopaly.

Archbishop McNicholas invited the Sisters to establish a foundation in
Cincinnati in 1926 and another one in Springfield, Ohio. A Springfield citizen
and his sister generously made it possible to become established in that city.
Since coming to Ohio, the Sisters report that they have ministered to thous- j
ands of the sick, of all religious beliefs and of no religious affiliations what-
soever.

In Columbus the Sisters are located at St. Rose of Lima Convent, 168
East Lincoln Street. The Cincinnati house is St. Dominic's Convent, 812 Day-
ton Street and the Springfield Convent is Holy Spirit Convent, 643 East I
High Street, Springfield, Ohio.

An Auxiliary of lay people helps to finance the work of these Sisters, |J
as it is against the rule of the community to accept any remuneration for
their services to the sick.

This auxiliary founded in New York, when the Religious Congregation
was first organized, has spread to the other convents in Ohio, to Detroit, Michi-
gan, and to Denver, Colorado.

Another unusual type of work carried on by Dominican Nuns in Ohio is I
the Catholic residence house for business women in Dayton, Ohio. The Sisters
in charge are known as the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine de Ricci. It
owes its origin to LUCY EATON SMITH, whose parents at one time lived
in Cleveland, Ohio and whose sister, ISABELLE McINTYRE SMITH, a native i
Clevelander, joined with her in establishing the religious congregation. They
aimed to devote themselves entirely to the promotion of spiritual retreats,
through the establishment of convents, where lay women might retire from
the world for several days or weeks for prayer and spiritual exercises.

Following the completion of her studies, Lucy gave herself over to a
social life. During an extensive residence in Europe, from 1865 until 1876,

WOMEN OF OHIO

487

she came to know of the work of the Ladies of the Cenacle, a religious organi-
zation which owned and conducted houses of retreat for laywomen.

The Ladies of the Cenacle now have a convent in New York, located on
the former estate of Maude Adams, which the noted actress gave to the
Sisters.

Lucy was anxious to introduce the spiritual retreat movement into
America, but it was not until 1887, that she realized her ambition, in the
building of a monastery or retreat house in Madison Avenue, Albany, New
York. Her sister, Isabelle had joined her in 1885, and helped in the founda-
tion of the new religious congregation.

Both girls were converts to the Catholic faith, and later their grand-
mother, their mother, two brothers, and two sisters, became members of the
Catholic Church.

In religion the foundress, Lucy Smith took the name of Sister Catherine
de Ricci, and her sister Isabelle was known as Sister Loyola of Jesus. Sister
Catherine de Ricci had fought tuberculosis throughout her life and in 1894,
she succumbed to this disease. Her sister succeeded her as prioress of the
community. Sister Loyola died in 1904.

In 1912, a convent was established in Dayton, Ohio as a retreat house
known as the Loretta House, and to this was added also the residence for
business girls. Evening classes are conducted in many branches, as well as
classes in religion for children and adults. In 1930 the present Loretta House
was dedicated.

At the Monastery of the Holy Name, 1960 Madison Road, Cincinnati,
Ohio, is another convent of the Dominican order, a Cloistered Order that was
established in Cincinnati in 1915. It is known in Cincinnati, as a “powerhouse
of prayer.”

Still another branch of Dominicans, devoted entirely to teaching is located
in Akron, Ohio, their motherhouse being known as “Our Lady of the Elms.”
It is a foundation from the Sisters of St. Dominic whose motherhouse is at
Caldwell, New Jersey. It was established in Akron as an independent founda-
tion. in 1929. At the time of its new foundation there were sixty-four Sisters.
(The community today numbers one hundred twenty-seven professed Sisters.

In their Akron academy they conduct a nursery and kindergarten depart-
ment, elementary and four year high school department. They conduct also
a down-town academy for girls and teach in eight schools in the diocese of
Cleveland, and beginning in 1939, they will teach in one school each in Bucyrus
and Sandusky in the Toledo diocese. One of their number just recently re-
turned from Europe, following studies in the Royal Institute of Art in Naples
md also at Fontainebleau, France. In qualifying for their teaching profes-
sion, the Sisters hold many degrees, and have pursued their studies, even
if ter entering the religious community in the leading colleges anad universi-
ies of the country.

488

WOMEN OF OHIO

SISTERS OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD

The Sisters of the Good Shepherd was the next religious order to come to
Ohio. This organization had its beginning in Caen, France in 1641, when a
priest of the village, now Saint John Eudes, organized a group of women to
interest themselves in the care of outcast women.

This women’s group became known as “The Congregation of Our Lady
of the Charity of the Refuge.” In 1829, the superior of the Refuge at Angers,
visualized opportunities for greater spiritual and temporal advancement by
effecting an administrative change and by extending the scope of the work.

So she took the great step which brought about the coalition of three inde- i
pendent refugees, into what is the community that is known today as “Our
Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherds of Angers.” This was MOTHER MARY
OF SAINT EUPHRASIIA PELLETIER. Mother Mary was beatified by the I
late Supreme Pontiff, Pope Pius XI, and her cause for Canonization as a Saint
of the Catholic Church is now before the Congregation of Rites in Rome. She
was the daughter of a physician at Soullans and was born Rose Virginia
Pelletier. It was while attending school at Angers, where there was a Refuge
house, that Rose Virginia’s sympathetic heart went out to the poor women i
confined therein. Later as a professed member of the religious community,
she realized the need for a program that would prevent, as well as correct, i
moral ills of the day, and when later she became superior of this community
she initiated a new department known as the Magdalenes, for those women
who had turned their backs upon the paths of evil, and who desired to spend
the remainder of their lives in penance and contemplation. They are a clois-
tered group and a part of the Good Shepherd community, but remain always I
as Magdalenes and never become nuns of the Religious Order. These women
are trained in the practical and cultural arts and much of the exquisite needle-
work and art work for which the Sisters of the Good Shepherd are famous
is the work of the Magdalenes. The other department which she established ]
was protection for young girls, the victims of broken homes or of unsavory j
working of housing conditions, whose virtue was in danger because of such
surroundings. These children are kept entirely apart from those of the Magda-
lenes and others who are in need of correction. They are given such training
in Domestic Science and in Business and other studies in addition to their
religious training as will enable them to maintain themselves honorably, when
old enough to seek self support beyond the convent.

Under this new set-up, knowledge of the work of the Sisters of the Good
Shepherd spread, and their Sisters were in demand everywhere. The need j
for such a noble type of social Service in Ohio was met by MOTHER MARY
of SAINT IGNATIOUS WARD and MOTHER MARY of SAINT JOSEPH
DAVID, who came by boat from the Louisville, Kentucky Convent to Cincin-
nati, arriving in Cincinnati on February 23, 1857. Three days later three more

WOMEN OF OHIO

489

nuns from Louisville joined them. The Louisville foundation had been estab-
lished in 1843.

The Gano mansion, located on Bank Street became their convent. The
House was very bare of all furniture. There was' not even a chair, and so the
sisters sat on the floor to partake of their first meal, which consisted of black
coffee and biscuits.

It is customary to honor in a special way anniversaries of all kinds and
the celebration as a rule takes on many forms. The Sisters of the Good Shep-
herd honor this day in the mother house at Carthage, first with a Mass of
thanksgiving in the convent chapel and later by partaking of a breakfast
of black coffee and biscuits, like the first breakfast in Cincinnati in 1857.

The work of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd is of an unusual type, and
consequently utmost privacy prevails. It is one religious order in which the
accomplishments of the Sisters is known only to God. The work consists
mostly of character readjustment and the rehabilitation of the fallen girl or
woman and of protection of virtue in good girls from broken homes. Because
of these circumstances these who benefit from the Sisters care and protection
must necessarily withhold public praise in order to hide their personal or
family tragedies. So the world in general knows very little of the character
building in mature personalities; of the character preservation in unprotected
childhood accomplished by these cloistered nuns.

The relationship in all guidance is epitomized in the term “Mother”
which is applied to all nuns in the community and every ward is called child —
and thus is developed between the nun and the inmate that most beautiful
of all relationships, the love of a mother for her child and the devotion and
the dependence of a child upon her mother.

In developing this relationship no coercion is used. There is no penal
department in the institution, only the motherly influence which is brought
to bear on each personality, the tender sweet, strong influence of a sympathetic
heart, ever watchful, ever helpful, ever patient, ever hopeful of success.
The most promising traits of the individual are observed and courses of study
are prescribed that will develop these characteristics.

The nuns of this order investigate every educational experiment and
accept those which they believe conducive to rendering the best service to
those placed in their charge.

For instance, at Marybrook, located on a 72 acre farm in Maumee, Ohio,

| is a school conducted by these nuns for “girls” who are trainable. It is not a
prison, even though the girls there are committed by the Juvenile Guidance
Department of the Toledo Diocesan Catholic Charities. This school was
I opened in 1926, and is an outgrowth of the convent first established by the
Sisters in a house on LaGrange Street in Toledo. The Sisters came to Toledo
in 1906 at the invitation of Bishop Ignatius Horstmann, who was the third
bishop of the diocese of Cleveland.

490

WOMEN OF OHIO

MISS FLORENCE SULLIVAN, formerly with the State Institutional
Inspection Department of Ohio Department of Welfare, wrote an interesting
article on Marybrook School, which appeared in the Ohio Welfare Bureau
Bulletin. Excerpts from this report are of interest, if only to determine the
progressiveness of the methods employed by the Sisters !

“ ‘Marybrook’ has no fence surrounding its 72 acres of ground and no
‘lock and key’ system within its home-like buildings. Runaways have not been
more frequent than at the average children’s home.

“The basis of treatment is sane and regular living, in a regime which in-
cludes a complete preventive health program; carefully planned full days
with their proper balance of education, work and play; the religious appeal
to strengthen the future, and to teach the adolescent that the past does not
count when the present is right and the future promising; emphasis upon
beauty, in nature, in home, character, and conduct ; and a recognition of all
forces making up a personality and a definite attitude towards life.

“Under the supervision of MISS CATHERINE FLYNN, the girls are
getting well acquainted with both the joys and worries of everyday house-
keeping, the fun and satisfaction of cleaning and arranging the friendly living
room, the gay bedroom, the sunny dining room, and bright kitchenette — and,
they are learning the art of being gracious hostesses.

“Then, too, music, dramatics and gym clamor for their rightful share
of time and interest. Music, either piano or instrumental, is offered to every
girl who wishes to learn. . . . MISS ANN SCOPH, dramatic director, is teach-
ing the girls voice culture, poise, and the theory of dramatic art. They are
learning the practical side of this absorbing subject by presenting several
clever plays.

“With tasks rotating, the girls, under the supervision of the Sisters, do
all of the work of the house, except cooking, during the school year. Instead
of the contract sewing and the outside laundry work once considered an essen-
tial part of the training of delinquent girls, fruit raising, gardening, care of
bees and chickens, offer potentialities of a different type of occupation for
the girls.

“The girls at Marybrook school look much like the girls at any high
school or college, simply dressed in different types of clothing, hair bobbed or
growing long. They wander freely in groups, like most adolescents, bursting
into giggles, and waxing and waning in their enthusiasm.

“Close follow-up after discharge has shown an unusual number of suc-
cessful adjustments of difficult girls, which point to a splendid system of
rehabilitation at Marybrook.”

The Carthage Convent is the provincial house for these communities as
well as communities of the Sisters in Ft. Thomas, Kentucky, Louisville, Ken-
tucky, Indianapolis, Indiana, Detroit and Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Wind-
sor, Canada.

WOMEN OF OHIO

491

In Cincinnati, back in 1895, the Sisters undertook to establish a separate
house for delinquent colored girls. There was a time when the Industrial
School of Saint Peter Claver for Colored Girls at Carthage, Ohio, another
development, was the largest institution of its kind in America.

The Sisters in Cincinnati achieved such fine results in prison reform that
when the city built a new prison, along about 1873, the Sisters were invited
to occupy it and to become a part of a newly organized staff of officials.
This they were unable to do, but they did open a house on Baum Street with
some of the prisoners as their charges. Establishment of this system of prison
reform was due in a large measure to the persistency of MRS. SARAH
PETERS, their sponsor. Having visited the convent in Arras, France, and
having been impressed by the manner in which the lives of young girls who
had come in contact with crime were salvaged she was eager that the same
method be used in Cincinnati. Mrs. Peters has been an advocate of prison
reform over a period of many years.

The Sisters had been in charge of the prisoners at Front Street City jail
and remained in charge of the prisoners at Front Street, until the erection
of the new prison in 1873. However, in the house on Baum Street, which
they opened, they brought with them from Front Street, forty penitents and
twenty children.

Additions were made to the Bank Street property as conditions and needs
required, but in 1870 it was believed advisable to purchase a farm at Carthage
where the provincial monastery of the Good Shepherd, “Our Lady of the
Woods” is now located. The former Mount Saint Mary Seminary site on
Price Hill is another center of this community.

In the archives of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd is a letter which deals
with the first day in the new convent in Cincinnati. Mrs. Sarah Peters of
Cincinnati, who is lovingly referred to, even today, as “our venerated found-
ress,” because of her great assistance financially and in securing the friend-
ship and the assistance of others in the cause of the Sisters, “brought to the
i convent as its first charges,” the Sister historian writes, “eighteen female
prisoners for our penitent class.” “Among the eighteen unfortunates in vari-
ous stages of degradation,” the Sister continues in her letter, “was a special
notorious character called ‘The Tigress of Cincinnati.’ No force could re-
strain her. This poor object of compassion is still with us (1887) ; her ferocious
disposition has long since assumed the amiable qualities of a gentle lamb, and
we trust she, like many of her former associates in vice, will end her days in
the peaceful home of the Good Shepherd.” Among those friends of Mrs. Peters
who came to her assistance were R. R. Springer, S. S. Boyle, Mrs. James Walsh,
the Slavin family, Charles West, A. Geis, Mayor George Hatch and the city
solicitor, Thomas C. Ware. These patrons provided cots and bedding and
accessary furniture for the first house on Bank Street and later, in 1867, when

492

WOMEN OF OHIO

the Sisters had established another house, to serve as an asylum for young girls i
of tender age, thrown on the charity of the city, MRS. STEPHEN BOYLE
erected a chapel in this convent at a cost of more than $40,000. Two of Mrs. j
Boyle’s daughters, entered the Carmelite order about fifty years ago in Saint ;
Louis, Mo. ; one known as SISTER ANNA MICHAEL, and the other SISTER I
WINIFRED. Sister Winifred was blind from infancy. When the Carmelite
order was introduced into Ohio in 1923 with a foundation in Cleveland, Ohio,
these two Sisters, with four others, formed the nucleus for the first Ohio foun- '
dation. These two Sisters died a year ago within a few weeks of each other.

The Cleveland Convent of the Sisters of Good Shepherd extended hospi-
tality to the Carmelite Sisters for several months, until their own convent
was made ready. Thus the Good Shepherd Sisters, half a century later, were j
able to partly repay in charity through her daughters, the many benefactions j
of the charitable Mrs. Boyle of Cincinnati.

The Cincinnati Convent was not set up as a hostess house, yet there was I
an occasion when it met an emergency and when the Sisters admirably rose |
to the occasion. MRS. ELIZABETH TAYLOR, the grand-niece of the presi- |
dent of the United States, made her home with these Sisters, in the later years
of her life. She died in 1892 in her 80th year, and is buried in the Convent
cemetery. The story is told that Mrs. Taylor embraced the Catholic Faith, j
and because of this, she was ostracized by her relatives. Archbishop Elder, J
the third bishop of Cincinnati, asked the Sisters in Cincinnati to extend hospi- j
tality to her, a request which they graciously granted.

The famous moving picture, “Cloister,” which a year or so ago broke I
all box office records, is really a story of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd,
and many of the scenes were taken within the convent in France.

From the Cincinnati foundation, convents were established in Columbus
May 8, 1865 ; Cleveland, July 24, 1869 ; and Toledo, 1906. These convents are
under the jurisdiction of the Mother House at Carthage. Convents under
Carthage supervision are located in Indianapolis, Detroit, and Grand Rapids,
Mich., Ft. Thomas and Louisville, Ky., and Windsor, Canada, also at Price
Hill, Cincinnati.

What is regarded as a most unusual type of service, is work of the Catho-
lic Collegiate Association in Cleveland, an organization founded 15 years ago
in Cleveland by MRS. WILLIAM MANNING, wife of a prominent physician.
Impressed with the work that the Sisters were endeavoring to do in rehabili-
tating the lives of the young girls committed to their care by court and social
agencies, she conceived the idea of organizing Catholic women graduates of
colleges. It was her belief that these women, who had the privileges of higher
education, might through their personal interest, serve as an inspiration to
the girls to make the most of opportunities for rehabilitation with which the
Sisters were providing them.

WOMEN OF OHIO

493

Success far beyond the fondest hopes has been achieved. The Catholic
Collegiate numbers more than 400 Catholic women, graduates of Catholic and
secular colleges. Its members are in practically every profession. Its program
is carried on through committees, so that each member of the Collegiate has
a definite task to perform and each one has some share in the work of the
Good Shepherd home.

LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR

A French servant girl, JEANNE JUGAN, born in Cancale, France in
1792, and who learned to nurse the sick in St. Servan, France, took into her
home one day, an old blind woman, who was left destitute by the death of
a sister. Jeanne had a small house in St. Servan ’s which she shared with two
other young women and from this house she went forth daily to care for the
sick in their homes. This was in 1839. Her two companions welcomed the
aged blind woman with open arms and in this home, and with this aged woman
as their first pensioner, the Religious Congregation known the world over as
“The Little Sisters of the Poor,” was born.

The next aged person to be received was a servant who had served her
master and mistress faithfully and when financial reverses had reduced this
couple to extreme poverty, she remained with them, caring for them, without
wages, and sharing her savings with them. Upon their death, she was destitute,
and feeble and infirm, she sought shelter with Jeanne Jugan.

Some time later, Jeanne Jugan learned of an old man, 72 years of age,
who had been abandoned in a damp cellar. He had been a sailor, and was
without family, friends and financial support. She learned that he had lived
in this place for two years, his only sustenance a few pieces of bread, given to
him by the poor folk^ in whose cellar he lived. The old aged man was taken
to her home, and there made comfortable.

From this small beginning the work of the Little Sisters of the Poor has
extended over the entire world and during its century of existence, more than
one half million of aged men and women have spent their last days upon earth,
under the kindly and benevolent care of the Little Sisters of the Poor, who
are at work in the five continents of the world.

In 1844, Jeanne, who had been joined by another companion, making four
in all, decided to organize a religious congregation. Episcopal approval was
j granted and religious names were taken by the four women. Jeanne became
; known in religion as Sister Marie de la Croix. To their vows of chastity and
j obedience, part of the religious rule of Saint Augustine, they added also the
I vows of poverty and hospitality.

Within a year of the founding of the first home for aged in Saint Servan,
| France, Jeanne had twelve aged persons to care for. She had used all her
savings and a small inheritance she had received from a woman in whose

494

WOMEN OF OHIO

employ she had been. Without food for her charges,, she started out one day
with a basket on her arm in quest of food and voluntarily she chose “to go
a begging, as it will be easier for me than these poor old unfortunates.”

That decision of Jeanne’s “to go a begging,” has since become a definite
part of the religious rule of the Congregation. On August 15, 1842, they
adopted the name of “Sisters of the Poor” for their congregation, but popular
acclaim later added the word “little” and to this day, the world over, these U
hospitallers of the aged poor are known as “The Little Sisters of the Poor.” 1

Explanation of the term “little” used in connection with their title was
expressed one day by a wealthy man, who was on the list of those approached
frequently by the Sisters in their quest for alms. Their repeated visits to
his place of business always met with refusal, but to each refusal, the begging
Sisters would reply, “Thank you, sir.” Upon the occasion of one of their
visits, the man said to them, “I have often wondered why you call yourselves
‘little’, when as a matter of fact, both of you are quite tall. But today, it
came to me that ‘little’ in your language means ‘humble.’ Take this banknote
for you bear your title well.”

In many large cities of the United States today, and particularly here
in Ohio, in Cincinnati, Toledo and Cleveland, a little horse drawn black
wagon, or a small black motor truck with the name “Little Sisters of the 1
Poor” inscribed thereon, can be seen on the city streets, stopping at the back
doors of hotels and restaurants and bakeries, or at the markets for the unused ;
or left over foods. Two Sisters, dressed in black with white linen caps on
their heads, over which is worn the black cowl of their capes, staff these
conveyances. Two other Sisters on foot, visit homes and business houses seek-
ing small alms to clothe and house their poor.

There are many who do not look with favor upon this begging of the
Little Sisters, even though they work quietly and unobtrusively, but for the
many who frown upon it, there are thousands more, who find joy and pleasure !
in giving.

None other than Charles Dickens came to the defense of the Little Sisters j
of the Poor when in 1851 they established their work in England. Their arrival
there brought forth protests from press and pulpit and even arrests for beg-
ging. So bitter was the opposition in England that the controversy reached
the halls of Parliament. In his “Household Words”, written February 15,
1852, Dickens said of them: “You do not like this begging? What are the
advertisements on behalf of our own hospitals? What are the collections?
What are the dinners, the speeches, the charity sermons? A few weak women,
strong in heart . . . patiently collect waste food from house to house, and
feed the poor with it, humbly and tenderly.”

Louis Yeuillot, a French apologist said: “The Little Sisters never took
college courses in economics and social rehabilitation ; yet they discovered a

WOMEN OF OHIO

495

science.” “Have they not,” he asks, “solved the problem of how to assist
the poor man without loathing to themselves or humiliation to him, without
expense to the State and without imposing on the public anything, except
the pleasure of giving?”

In 1865, the real test of absolute dependence upon God for their financial
support came when a French woman offered 4000 francs to endow a bed in
the Dijon house of the Sisters. After consultation it was decided to refuse
this kindly offer and it was later inscribed in the rules of the religious com-
munity, that “The Congregation cannot possess any annual subsidy or fixed
revenue in perpetual title.” Three years later another trust fund of two
million francs had been bequeathed to the French Sisters, and this had to be
refused after consultation with the mother-house at La Tour in France. The
reply was “let us remain poor, trusting in Providence without taking thought
of tomorrow.”

The letter which contains this statement, was ordered by the Bishop of
Dijon to be kept forever in the archives of the Congregation, “Keep that
document in your records,” he wrote. “It is a title of religious nobility.”

The Sisters have, however, accepted legacies which are not trust funds,
and which are used for a definite purpose, such as the retirement of debts,
building of homes for the aged poor. But Federal old-age pensions, com-
munity fund allowances etc., may not be accepted, according to the rule of the
Religious congregation.

The first colony of Little Sisters to come to America, arrived Sept. 13,
1868, and located in Brooklyn. The second American colony arrived in New
York less than a month later, October 8, and came to Cincinnati, arriving on
October 14. Their first home for the poor was a former school located near
the cathedral, but upon their arrival they were guests in the convent of the
Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, located on Sixth Street near Sycamore. On
their arrival in Cincinnati the six Sisters had as their common fund ten cents
in money and two small statues, one of the Blessed Virgin and the other of
Saint Joseph. SISTER THEODORE MARIE was superior of this band of
1 six Sisters.

The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur by this time had a well established
i school, and having communicated to their pupils that these Sisters had
arrived, and having explained the nature of their work, the Little Sisters of
; the Poor soon had many benefactors. The extreme poverty of their first home
j touched the hearts of everyone who came. The first doctor called to administer
to a sick man, moved by pity, took off his coat to give to the pensioner. Arch-
bishop Purcell, the second bishop of the diocese of Cincinnati, called to
! extend a welcome to the Sisters and he too was moved by their extreme
| poverty. The only furniture in the parlor of this home was one table and
two rickety benches.

Chief among their benefactors was MRS. SARAH PETERS of Cincinnati.
She had learned of the Little Sisters of the Poor in 1858 from Father Hacker,

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founder of the Paulist order of Priests and at that time she made an effort
to have a colony come to Cincinnati. Her first venture was not successful,
but she continued until 1868 when the first group of six Sisters arrived.

The first home in Cincinnati was called Saint Joseph’s Home and is now
located at 2024 Forence Avenue. It was opened in 1863. On March 20, 1882,
Saint Peter’s Home, 476 Riddle Road, Clifton Heights, was opened. Each home
accommodates about 230 aged persons.

Two years later the Sisters came to Cleveland and Bishop Rappe, the first
Bishop of the diocese of Cleveland, gave to them for their use a small house
on Perry Street which could accommodate only 12 persons. They soon outgrew
this house, and additions had to be built and in later years a larger and more
commodious house was built on East 22nd Street, in Cleveland.

Upon their arrival in Cleveland a German family learning of the arrival
of the Little Sisters of the Poor came to call on the Superior and to ask what
was needed. They supplied the needs by providing forty blankets, fifteen
foot-covers, three new mattresses, linen for sheets and pillow cases, utensils
of all kinds and provisions.

As it became known that the Little Sisters shared the conditions of their
poor and accepted for themselves the shame of begging and the inconvenience
of poverty, they quickly won friends to their cause.

When it became necessary to seek larger quarters for the aged, a non-
Catholic benefactor gave to the Sisters $1,000, and Bishop Rappe gave $4,000
with which to purchase property.

Some fifteen years later, in 1885, another house of the Little Sisters of
the Poor was established in Toledo, Ohio. In this house there are accommoda-
tions for 140 aged persons in charge of fourteen Sisters. The Cleveland house
accommodates 200 aged poor and 16 Sisters are in charge.

In war torn Spain today there are some fifty homes wherein the Sisters
are rendering the best possible services under most trying conditions. In
China, homes for the aged in Shanghai and Canton are practically surrounded
by debris left in the wake of Japanese planes. The brief news which comes
to houses throughout the world is, “Safe; Divine Providence protects!”

From one of their homes in China came a story of the protection afforded
the Sisters and their poor by their intercession to their foundress, Sister Marie
de Croix or Jeanne Jugan. During a bombardment, a picture of their found-
ress was placed in every room of the house but one, which had been overlooked.
The Sisters and the inmates in their prayers asked their foundress to inter-
cede for them and to ask God’s protection. The day following the bombard-
ment it was discovered that a huge projectile had penetrated into one room
of the house where it landed in a sack of rice and its damaging influence
ended there. This was the only room in which a picture of the foundress had
not been placed and the Sisters with the deep religious faith that is theirs
and their trust in Divine Providence, attribute their survival to the interces-
sion of their foundress.

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497

In Detroit, the Bertha M. Fisher Home for the aged conducted by the
Little Sisters of the Poor is the gift of a former Cleveland, Ohio, woman,
BERTHA MEYER FISHER and her husband, Frederick John Fisher, who
is an executive of the Fisher Body Corporation of Detroit. The home accommo-
dates 300 aged persons and was built in 1928.

SISTERS OF MERCY

The Sisters of Mercy who came to Cincinnati August 18, 1858 had an
interesting origin. The foundress CATHERINE McAULEY, daughter of
James McAuley, a man of wealth and of influence in Dublin, Ireland, received
from her father the inspiration to establish a work which is world wide today
in its scope. Strict penal laws in effect at the time in Ireland, which forbade
the practice of the Catholic Faith, and even the instruction in that faith,
prompted James McAuley like many other Catholics to use his home as a secret
meeting place for religious services and as a school for instructing children
in the Faith. Catherine’s parents died within a few years of each other when she
was in her teens. She was taken into the home of a Mr. and Mrs. Callaghan
and upon their death she inherited their spacious residence, known as Coolock
House in Dublin. With this inheritance, she began her work of instructing the
ignorant and unschooled poor. She saw what had been accomplished through
her father’s efforts. Her first objective was to establish an institution where
respectable working women might find a home during intervals of unemploy-
ment ; a school for the education of the poor ; and means of caring for the sick
poor in their homes. Her first building for this work was established in Dublin,
September 24, 1827.

Today there are some 20,000 members of the Institute of the Sisters of
Mercy spread throughout the world, its latest mission having been recently
established in the leper colony of Demarare, South America with three mem-
bers from the Cincinnati Convent in charge sharing the work with seventeen
others.

Mother McAuley, the foundress, devoted her wealth, her exertions, and
her life to the alleviation of human misery ; she gave herself and all that she
possessed to God and she deemed the honor of serving him a sufficient re-
i ward for her immense and unceasing labor. Mother McAuley was insistent
that special preparation was necessary for each phase of the very special
| work carried on in the institute. She argued that “if religious are not efficient
l teachers, their pupils will seek education elsewhere and for a little human
learning barter, perhaps, their eternal interest.” “To visit the sick with
I advantages,” she believed, “kindness is more necessary than learning; to
| conduct a house of Mercy efficiently, prudence and a knowledge of household
matters are more essential than literary ability; but to teach well, kindness
I an d prudence, though indispensable, will not suffice without the solid founda-
| tion of a good education and a judicious method of imparting knowledge.”

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WOMEN OF OHIO

To attain this end, Sister McAuley had hoped to open a Training College for
young women that would aid their Sisters, but this had to be delayed for
some years.

It was with such a heritage as this that nine Sisters came from Ireland to
Cincinnati in 1858. They were accompanied here by Mrs. Sarah Peters of
Cincinnati, who had been sent as a special messenger to Ireland by Arch-
bishop Purcell, the second Bishop of Cincinnati. In advance of their arrival,
Mrs. Peters wrote to a Cincinnati friend that she was aiding the Sisters in
preparation for their journey and they are “ladies fit to grace any circle.”

It must be emphasized that in all religious communities no sisters are sent
to far away mission fields against their will. As a rule, the plea is made to
the community and volunteers are asked to make known their desire. And so
it was that nine members of the Irish community headed by SISTER MARIE
THERESE MAHER, who was the superior of the Kinsale community, volun-
teered to come to Ohio.

True to the ideals and the example of their illustrious foundress Catherine
McAuley, these sisters, upon their arrival in Cincinnati, began to carry out
their program of mercy valiantly and courageously, meeting each need as it
was presented.

The Sisters were guests of Mrs. Peters in her home, part of which she
had given over to their private use, until such time as a more permanent
location could be obtained. Mrs. Peters as a special inducement to have the
Sisters come to Cincinnati had assured the Sisters of financial support and
had agreed to give one fourth of her income, about $4,000, and also an insur-
ance policy on her life. This promise for financial support was augmented
by Archbishop Purcell who assured the chaplain of their order in Ireland
that “The Sisters shall never want their daily bread while I have a crust to
share with them and I may give the same assurance in the name of my suc-
cessor.” Archbishop Purcell blessed the part of the Peters Home which had
been reserved for a convent and called it the “Convent of the Divine Will.”

The Sisters took possession of a poorly conditioned house on Sycamore
Street, on October 11, 1858 and here they began to teach the small boys who
attended Saint Xavier’s parish school. In this same house they pioneered
in adult education and in the home nursing service. They established a night
school for working girls, the evening of October 25, and the following day
October 26, they established their first day school. At the same time they
opened a novitiate in which young women could be trained for the religious
life and the first postulant, AGNES McCOY, was received November 7, 1858.
The following February, the first postulant from Cincinnati was received.

In 1860 it became necessary to move again. This time, on June 4, they
moved into the former German Boy’s Orphanage on Fourth Street, between
John and Central Avenue, which they had purchased. Meanwhile SISTER
M. BAPTIST KANE, who had come from Ireland, had compiled a prayer

WOMEN OF OHIO

499

book “Help of Christians” and proceeds from the sale of this book helped
considerably to pay for the new convent. Adjacent property with a building
was purchased as a site for a home for poor women, but this was no sooner
ready for occupancy than the Sisters turned it over to the government for
use as a hospital during the Civil War. They also gave volunteer service
in the care of the sick and wounded. In 1862, SISTER MOTHER THERESE
MAHER, SISTER M. GERTRUDE O’DWYER, SISTER M. STANISLAUS
MURPHY and SISTER FRANCIS NOONAN, all of the original group from
Ireland, answered the government’s call for volunteers in various war torn
sections. They boarded the steamer “Superior” for Pittsburgh Landing on the
Tennessee River to help care for the wounded from the Federal and Confed-
erate armies that were pouring in after the battle of Shiloh. A tent served
as a hospital, and while in service there black small-pox broke out. The Sisters
remained on the scene until their services were no longer needed. Sister
Gertrude O’Dwyer had seen war service before in the Crimean war. It was
not until the soldiers had departed from the improvised hospital in Cincinnati
that the Sisters were able to open a night refuge for distressed women of good
character and a school for poor children. How well they succeeded here is
seen in the records for one year alone in this house of refuge for women.
They temporarily provided for 250 girls and procured employment for 350
girls and within the same period the Sisters made more than 2,000 visits to
the prisons and to the homes of the poor. An industrial school was also a
part of the House of Mercy and girls were taught dress-making and general
needlework.

The Ohio River flood in the early 80 ’s and a second flood in 1884 found
the Sisters again volunteering their services and opening their various con-
vents for the care of the distressed.

The Spanish- American war found the Sisters at the railroad stations
meeting the trains and rendering whatever service they could to alleviate the
suffering of the returning sick and wounded soldiers.

In 1918, the flu epidemic found the Sisters volunteering again to serve
the sick not only in Mercy Hospital in Hamilton, Ohio, but in Cincinnati
j homes. Sixteen of their members volunteered to care for the sick in mining
| district homes of southwestern Kentucky.

From a small and humble beginning, the influence of the Sisters spread.
I There are now more than 1,000 members in convents which embrace the
| Province of Cincinnati, and which include the States of Tennessee, Kentucky,
| Michigan, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio and West Virginia. At the time of its founding
there were only nine. The Cincinnati convent has 208 professed sisters. Their
work in Ohio is as varied as the needs of the time and include teaching in
all departments from kindergarten, through the elementary, high schools and
colleges; caring for the distressed; maintaining hospitals, schools of nursing,
visiting the sick in their homes, maintaining homes for young women of good

500

WOMEN OF OHIO

character; visiting the prisons, conducting vacation schools. Many members
have been authors of religious books. They have kept abreast with the times in
maintaining high standards in education, social service and hospitalization.
Higher education for members has been obtained in such schools as the Uni-
versities of Notre Dame, Marquette, Catholic University, the College of Music
and the Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati, and the Athenaeum of Ohio,
located in Cincinnati. Members hold high degrees — Ph. D., M. A., B. S., A. B.,
B. M., and N. M. Besides their work in Cincinnati, teaching in parish schools,
and conducting institutions, the Sisters also teach in schools in Chillicothe,
Urbana, London, Bellefontaine, Piqua, Springfield, Delaware and Columbus.

In 1892 the Sisters were invited by citizens to establish a hospital in
Hamilton. With the permission of Archbishop William H. Elder, third bishop
of Cincinnati, this request was granted and the first patient was received on
July 5, 1892. In order to render the best service possible, the Sisters who were
assigned to the hospital were sent to hospitals conducted by the Sisters of
Mercy in Pittsburgh, and in Chicago, where they received training.

In connection with this hospital, there is a school of Nursing which was
established by the Sisters in 1906 to augment the staff of trained nurses in
the care of the sick. Heretofore, all of the nursing had been done by the
Sisters. The first class of two, MISS KATHERINE O’NEIL, now MRS.
GEORGE BRAMLAGE, and MISS ANN SCHROER, was graduated February
1909.

In 1914, the superior of Mercy Hospital, SISTER M. GONZAGA, joined
the Nursing League of Education and was the first religious in the United
States to do so. This was done to keep in touch with the latest developments
in nursing education, in order that patients and students might be better
served.

In 1920 a group of prominent women of Hamilton formed an auxiliary
to the Nursing School in order to better acquaint the public with the aims
and objectives of a School of Nursing. Through this auxiliary, scholarships
are provided for post graduate work, and are awarded at time of graduation
to the “student who gave the most efficient and kindly care to the sick.”
MRS. HOMER GARD has been a most generous benefactor to this. She is
president of the Nurses auxiliary and gives an annual scholarship of $500;
MRS. MARY MILLIKEN BECKETT is the donor of an annual scholarship of
$300 named for Sister Mary Gonzaga; Our Lady of Cincinnati College con-
ducted by the Sisters of Mercy, gives another scholarship. MISS RUTH
GRACE, a graduate of the School of Nursing of Mercy Hospital, Hamilton, is
the first graduate to complete her five years course at Our Lady of Cincin-
nati College.

The doctors of the staff give another scholarship. In all 25 graduates
have had the advantages of graduate study as the result of these benefactions.

Perhaps the most progressive move in the entire history of the Sisters of

WOMEN OF OHIO

501

Mercy was that which took place in Cincinnati in 1929, when representatives
of the many convents of the order throughout the United States voted to
amalgamate into one Religious body. It was decided that by so doing, “ their
common purpose would be attained, regular discipline in all its strength
would increase, and more abundant fruits would accrue to those coming under
the influence of the Institute.” Instrumental in this movement was Cardinal
Pietro Fumasoni Biondi now of Rome, but at that time, Apostolic Delegate
to the United States with headquarters in Washington. His Excellency, Arch-
bishop McNicholas of Cincinnati, extended the invitation to meet in Cincinnati
and extended also the hospitality of Mount Saint Mary’s seminary and
grounds. The conclave opened August 26, 1929 and continued one week.

Mother Carmelita Hart of Baltimore was elected Mother general of the
Sisters of Mercy in the United States. Six provinces were set up, with a
Sister serving as provincial director in each of these provinces, Cincinnati
was elected as one of the provincial centers, and within its jurisdiction are
all convents of the order in the states of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky,
Tennessee, Iowa and West Virginia.

A foundation of the Sisters of Mercy was established in Tiffin, Ohio, May
11, 1912. Three members came from the convent of the Sisters at Grand
Rapids, Michigan upon the invitation of Bishop Joseph Schrembs, who was
the first Bishop of the newly organized diocese of Toledo, established in 1910.
Bishop Schrembs had been Bishop in Grand Rapids, and had come to know of
the work of these Sisters. Mother Mary McMullen was the first superior.

In 1935, when representatives of the different convents of the Sisters of
Mercy met in Cincinnati to perfect a union of all convents of this order, the
Toledo foundation affiliated with the Union, and thus came under the juris-
diction of the Cincinnati mother-house.

Since coming to Toledo diocese, the sisters established their work in
Mercy Hospital, Toledo, Mercy Hospital, Tiffin and Saint Rita’s Hospital of
Lima, Ohio. In addition, they teach in parish schools at Fremont, Toledo,
and Sandusky, and are members of the faculty of Central Catholic High
Schools and of DeSales College in Toledo. Since 1935, the mother house has
been located at “Our Lady of the Pines,” Fremont, Ohio. It has a membership
1 of 125 Sisters.

SISTERS OF CHARITY OF CINCINNATI

In 1928 only six Sisters of Charity from Cincinnati could be spared from
among 200 of their members, who volunteered when the Ohio Sisters decided
to open a free dispensary and hospital in Wuchang, Hupeh district China, and
an orphanage in San Kiang Ko, Hupeh China.

These six volunteers established in the Eastern part of the world another
Religious foundation, whose members join their labors with other religious
women, in relieving the distress of the suffering people of China. Buddhists,

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WOMEN OF OHIO

Mohammedans, and Christians are among those being helped and the only
passport needed to gain admittance to these institutions, which are owned
and financed by the Sisters of Charity and other sisterhoods, is the individuaFs
distress.

Orphans and homeless children of China, at present consigned to the care
of Madame Chiang Kai Shek, have in turn been assigned by her to the pro-
tection of these Sisters and other Sisters, who are performing valiant service
today in war-torn China.

Back home in Ohio and in the many convent homes that look to the Cin-
cinnati mother house for guidance and inspiration, the members of the Sisters
of Charity by their prayers, their words of encouragement, and their financial
assistance, are bolstering the courage of their Sisters in China, and are other
hands, as it were, dispensing food, shelter, clothing, and medical care to the
needy there.

With an estimated 30,000,000 sufferers in China today, it is easy to believe
that these women who have volunteered their services, in the name of Christ,
for the relief of the suffering in that war-torn country, are enduring unbelieve-
able suffering themselves, suffering that must go unrelated and unrecorded
because of their vows to serve uncomplainingly for the love of God, their
Creator.

Some years ago, LIDA ROSE McCABE of Columbus, Ohio, a newspaper
and magazine writer of wide renown, wrote an article on “The Catholic Sister-
hoods, ” for one of America’s leading secular magazines. She summed up the
life of the Sisters in these sisterhoods in this statement : that when a nun
dies and is laid to rest in the convent cemetery, the epitaph on her grave
marker reads, “Here lies one who lived and died in the love of the Lord.”

And so it is that for the love of their Lord and Creator so many thous-
ands of women have dedicated themselves to a life in religion, and it is this
love that motivates the many thousands who are engaged in work in Ohio,
and in distant lands.

The Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati have an interesting history in Ohio,
with its humble beginning of four sisters, augmented a few years later by
three others who formed the first religious foundation for women in Ohio. It
numbers today a membership of 1180 women. Among them are many who
have specialized in literature, arts, history, music and science, and hold degrees
of Ph. D., M. A., A. B., B. S. They have pursued higher studies in such uni-
versities as Notre Dame, Catholic University, Creighton, Columbus, Fordham,
Detroit, Denver, Greeley, and New Mexico.

They gave to the War between the States the one who became known
best by the name of “The Angel of the Battlefield” and the “Florence Night-
ingale of America,” SISTER ANTHONY O’CONNELL. There were thirty-
four other Sisters who served with Sister Anthony, ministering to those who
needed their care, in both army camps, going wherever they were needed most.

WOMEN OF OHIO

503

In the influenza epidemic of 1918, twenty Sisters volunteered to serve
in the sparsely settled districts of Southern Ohio and Northern Kentucky,
ministering to the sick in their homes and rendering services also in the hos-
pitals desiring help.

The Cincinnati house remained a branch of the Maryland motherhouse
until 1852 when Ohio became a separate and independent foundation, and a
novitiate was opened on April 3, 1852. Six Sisters were among those who were
professed as members of the new Ohio foundation.

From the tiny two story frame house on Sycamore Street, which was their
first convent, the religious community has expanded to include today their
motherhouse, college and academy located at Mount Saint Joseph, Ohio, two
central high schools, an infant asylum, and the Good Samaritan hospital in
Cincinnati; one hospital in Dayton; a boys’ academy at Fayetteville; one
hospital in Kenton; Saint Mary’s hospital in Pueblo, Colorado; San Rafael’s
hospital in Trinidad; Saint Vincent’s hospital and Sanitarium, Sante Fe,
New Mexico; Saint Vincent’s academy and high school and Saint Joseph’s
hospital and Sanitarium at Albuquerque, New Mexico. These institutions are
owned, staffed, and financed by the Sisters.

In addition, they staff grade and high schools under Catholic Church
auspices in Chillicothe, Cleveland, Dayton, Fayetteville, Glendale, Greenville,
Harrison, Kenton, Marion, Middletown, Sidney, Findlay, and Lima in Ohio.
Parochial grade and high schools in Michigan, Colorado, and New Mexico,
i numbering seventeen, are staffed by these Sisters.

The famous Glockner Sanitarium at Colorado Springs is now owned and
I operated by the Sisters of Charity. It was built originally by Marie Gynne
Glockner, widow of Albert Glockner, as a memorial to her husband who had
! died of tuberculosis. Before his death he had planned to build such an insti-
tution, where victims of tuberculosis might have care at a reasonable expense.
The first patient was received on March 5, 1890. Three years later Mrs.

| Glockner offered the institution to the Sisters of Charity, as a gift providing
| that the name, Albert Glockner Memorial Sanitarium be retained, and that
the Sisters assume responsibility for the $6,000 mortgage on the sanatorium.

1 This program at Colorado Springs has developed from the one hospital for
! tuberculosis patients to many buildings and cottages which occupy two city
| blocks in the northern part of Colorado Springs. Besides the hospital and
cottages for tubercular patients, the Sisters also conduct a modern hospital,
for medical and surgical cases, a maternity hospital, a children’s hospital
i and a Nurses home.

In 1902 a similar institution for the care of tubercular patients was
i opened at Albuquerque, N. M. which attracts patients from almost every State
I in the Union. It also has a Nurses Training school.

In 1865, a Navajo baby abandoned and in need of a home was the inspira-
; tion for the establishment of an orphanage at Sante Fe. The child was taken
into the convent of the Sisters.

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WOMEN OE OHIO

In Albuquerque, N. M. in addition to a boarding and day school conducted
by the Sisters of Charity, they conduct weekly classes in religion for 400
Indians attending the government school near Albuquerque.

The Saint Rita’s School for the Deaf in Cincinnati is a diocesan institu-
tion staffed by the Sisters of Charity who train in manual arts, as well as to
offer a complete grade and high school course.

The Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati, which is the immediate suc-
cessor to the first hospital which they established in Cincinnati, known as
Saint John’s Hospital for Invalids, and opened in 1852, resulted from a double
act of charity. Sister Anthony O’Connell was in charge of this hospital where
one day was admitted a poor man who was ill and who had been sent there
by Joseph C. Butler. The man handed Sister Anthony a note from Mr. Butler
to the effect that he was to be given care and that the bill would be paid by
Mr. Butler. The sick man recovered, was discharged from the hospital, but
Mr. Butler received no bill. Some time later Mr. Butler called at the hospital
to inquire for the bill. Sister Anthony replied, “That poor man was taken
here for the love of God and we give Him no bills.”

Mr. Butler was a business man. The answer impressed yet mystified him,
as he knew that the wherewith to operate such an institution had to come
from some source. He inquired into the work and the needs of the hospital
and discovered that only lack of facilities and accommodations prevented the
Sisters from doing a more extensive service among the poor. He interested a
friend, Louis Worthington, in providing better accommodations for the
patients and nurses, and on August 15, 1866, the deed for the old Marine
hospital, which these two men purchased from the U. S. Government, was
given over to the Sisters of Charity.

Although less than one fifth of their members are engaged in the nine
hospitals conducted by the Sisters of Charity, their religious community is
classified as “Hospital Sisters.”

This hospital has since been enlarged to include a 600 bed capacity. In
1874 an ampitheater for clinical teaching with a seating capacity for 400 was
built. Students of Ohio Medical College and of Miami College assembled to
hear lectures and to observe the work of the greatest surgeons of the time.
A second addition had to be built in 1889 and some years later, an annex had
to be built in Clifton. Still the demands for service far exceeded accommoda-
tions so that in 1916 two wings of the new Good Samaritan Hospital at Clifton
and Dixmyth Avenue, opposite Burnet Woods, were built. Eleven years later
the remainder of the building was finished and Victoria Hall, the nurses
home, was added. It is estimated that more than the Biblical tenth in free
services is given to the sick poor.

Just as these Sisters came into Ohio from Baltimore early in the nine-
teenth century to minister to the spiritual and physical needs of Ohio, par-
ticularly in the Cincinnati area, so too in this the twentieth century have

WOMEN OF OHIO

505

Sisters gone out from this center which they established in Ohio into other
parts of the continent, particularly into far away China, to minister again as
missionaries.

Missionary priests who came to Ohio from Europe and whose labors here
in the Ohio mission fields merited the favor of their ecclesiastical superiors
and won for them assignments to new fields as bishops, helped in a large
measure to widen the field of service for the Sisterhoods.

Bishop Lamy, immortalized by Willa Cather in her “Death comes for the
Archbishop, ” was one of the priests who came to Ohio from France at the
request of Archbishop Purcell in 1839. He was consecrated Bishop in 1850,
was named Bishop of Sante Fe, July 29, 1853, and Archbishop of Sante Fe in
1875. In helping him to establish the Church in Sante Fe, he turned to the
Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati for assistance. Four of them, SISTERS VIN-
CENT, THEODASIA, PAULINE, and CATHERINE, started west August
21, 1865 going by rail to Omaha from Cincinnati, and thence by stage coach for
the remaining 1000 miles to Sante Fe. They opened an orphan asylum and a
hospital in Sante Fe.

In 1870, the Sisters branched out again into Michigan and Colorado re-
sponding to the needs in these states, but regretfully declined requests for
services in other states, due to lack of workers.

The proximity of the residence of the Sisters to the Diocesan seminary
in Cincinnati made it possible for the Sisters to have the advantages of
scholarly instructors from the seminary. Among these were two professors
of the seminary, who later became Bishops, Bishop Henry Richter who became
Bishop of Grand Rapids, April 22, 1883, and Bishop Thomas S. Byrne, a native
of Hamilton, Ohio, who became Bishop of Nashville, Tennessee, July 25, 1894.

Bishop Richter gave many hours to the Sisters each week for classes in
mathematics, Latin, German, Science, English, and philosophy. Of Bishop
1 Byrne, who was the first chaplain of the new Mount Saint Joseph Convent
; from 1869 to 1887, the Sisters record that “in addition to the knowledge of
religion, he taught the sciences, languages, rhetoric, and higher mathematics.
I It was not long until the schools began to feel his influence and their literary
I standard advanced accordingly.” He is also praised for encouraging good
reading and the study of the best English. Money, which he might have spent
on travel or other self advantages, was used by him to fill the convent library
! with books by the best of authors. His love for good literature was equalled
by his love for art, and here again the Sisters benefitted, as the Art gallery
of Mount Saint Joseph holds many pieces of art which are his gifts to the
community.

Bishop Byrne served the diocese of Nashville from 1894 until his death
in 1923. At his request his body was brought back to Mount Saint Joseph
to be buried in the spot selected by him during his chaplaincy at the convent.

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WOMEN OF OHIO

He himself, on June 4, 1883 had cleared the field to make way for the first
grave in the new convent cemetery in which are interred the remains of Mother j
REGINA MATTINGLY. She was one of six Sisters to make her religious vows
on March 25, 1852, at which time the Ohio foundation became a separate and
independent foundation from the Baltimore foundation of which for 23 years \
it had been a part.

The Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati is one of the largest religious insti-
tutions for women. Despite its large numbers and the many students and
young women who are accepted for membership in their novitiate and in the
community, there still are not enough to meet the many demands for their j
services — proof that the same spirit of self sacrifice and devotion which
motivated the women of a century ago to serve God through Religion, is as
alive today as it was then, in the hearts and the minds of the young women j *1
of the twentieth century.

SISTERS OF NOTRE DAME DE NAMUR

JULIE BILLIART, born in Cuvilly, France in 1751, became the foundress I
of one Religious order which was to work in Ohio, and whose members since i
coming to Ohio in 1840 can lay claim to having steadfastly held true to the ,
ideals of their beloved foundress and to have faithfully preserved for future I
generations, the glorious traditions of their Religious Institute.

It is the Religious order known as the Institute of the Sisters of Notre
Dame de Namur, an order which today spans the globe. There is scarcely a
spot in the world where the name of God is known that some Sisters of Notre i
Dame de Namur is not personally serving through religious, educational or
charitable institutions; or by proxy, through Tabernacle societies, mission
and sodality groups, or other channels used by them in doing their part to
fulfill the commands of Christ to His Disciples, “Going therefore teach ye
all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son, and
of the Holy Ghost.” (Matthew 28th ch., verses 18 to 20).

Julie Billiart had for an associate in the founding of this Religious
Institute, a daughter of the nobility, MADEMOISELLE FRANCOISE BLIN
DE BOURDON, whose close friend was MADAME ELIZABETH, sister to
King Louis XVI of France. Julie was the daughter of a French shopkeeper, j
To supplement her father’s earnings for the support of his family of seven
children, she found employment at the age of 16, in the fields, tilling the j
soil, sowing the seed and reaping the harvests.

Thus we find in the formation of this Religious Institute in 1806 in
Amiens, France, the joining together of kindred souls despite the disparity
of their rank. Julie from the nobility of the poor, and Francoise from the
nobility of royalty and of the rich, had much in common — their Catholic
Faith, their love for the poor, and their burning desire to bring others to a
knowledge of God.

WOMEN OF OHIO

507

Both of them had escaped the purge of the French Revolution during
the 1790’s. The death of Robespierre saved Francoise, who was imprisoned
and had been sentenced to death by the guillotine. Kind friends sought out
Julie, and concealed her from her persecutors. So eager were the revolu-
tionists to lay hands upon Julie that it became necessary for her friends to
seek new hiding places for her five times within a period of three years.

Julie was 52 years of age when she founded this Religious Institute and
Francoise 38 years old. Julie had been bedfast for 22 years, due to paralysis
in the lower limbs caused by shock, when an attempt had been made on her
father’s life.

On the beginning of this, her life’s work, she was “miraculously cured”
of her infirmities and presided as general superior of her Religious Institute
until her death in 1816.

Throughout her invalidism, she drew people to her, particularly the poor
of her neighborhood, and instructed them in their religion. She spent her
time sewing on altar linens and vestments.

She claims to have had a dream one day, in which she saw Christ
suspended from a Cross on Calvary, and surrounding the Cross was a group
of women in a religious garb which she had never seen before. In this vision
she heard a voice say to her, “Behold the Spiritual Daughters whom I give
to you in the Institute which will be marked by my Cross.”

In the aftermath of the French Revolution, the need for Religious com-
munities to help in rebuilding the Faith was great. Monasteries and convents
had been closed during the Revolution, and members of religious communities
were dispersed, or in many instances, suffered death by the guillotine.

The parish priest in Amiens, where Julie now lived, bade her begin
instructions in religion to the children of the neighborhood. Despite her
physical disability, she obeyed and in 1803 was begun, in this simple manner,
the work which was to be formally established in 1806 as a Religious Insti-
tute and whose branches were to extend into Ohio and around the world.

Ohio in 1840 was the first mission across the seas to benefit from this
foundation. Today almost a century later, this work has expanded until it
extends beyond the seven seas, and the Ohio community through its personal
responsibility for some of the foreign missions, is actively participating in
work of this Institute in the Far East. Eight of their Sisters left Cincinnati
in 1929 to establish a girls’ boarding school in Hankow and despite Japanese
bombs which rained down upon them, but providentially sparing lives, the
Sisters carry on, not only with their educational work, but in using their
convent as a hospice for hundreds of refugees from all parts of China. These
refugees came because they were attracted by the huge American flags
painted upon the convent walls and the Cross which surmounts the top of
their convent. These signs meant refuge and safety to them.

When Julie established the Religious Institute, she designed the religious
habit which the Sisters were to wear from the garb worn by those whom

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she had seen in the vision grouped about the Cross. That style of garb
continues to be worn today by these Sisters wherever there is a convent of
the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur.

One rule laid down by Julie was that for all time, the work of the
Sisters of the Institute was to be given to the education of youth and from
the very beginning of Her Institute it was decreed, that a day school, a
boarding school and a free school for poor children be conducted simul-
taneously, wherever possible.

So religiously did the Ohio group of eight Sisters adhere to this ruling
that they refused as a gift the offer of the beautiful site now owned by the
Ursulines at Brown County, because its great distance from the city at that
time, in 1840, would not permit them to conduct a free school for poor
children. Transportation in those days was a problem to be reckoned with,
and if parents could not afford to pay for the education of their children,
it is not likely that they could afford the heavy transportation cost.

Another rule of Julie was that no matter how great was the need for
teachers, or how insistent the demands for their services, that it was wiser
to await the time when the Sisters would be adequately prepared for their
work. In this, her companion, Francoise, known in religion as SISTER ST.
JOSEPH, concurred.

On the simple tombstone that marks the last resting place of Julie
Billiart, in Namur, Belgium, to which city the motherhouse of the Religious
Institute was transferred in 1807, is to be found this inscription:

“She consecrated the best days of her life to the education of youth
and to the foundation of excellent schools, justly considered the bulwark of
religion and morality.”

Julie Billiart won praise from Pope Leo XIII in 1889 when he declared
that “Julie had practiced the theological and moral virtues in a heroic
degree.” He directed the degree of heroicity of her virtues be published
without delay.

The Congregation of Rites in Rome, adjudged reports of cures, ac-
credited to her, by those who had pleaded her intercession for them follow-
ing her death in 1816, as being miracles, and on Dec. 10, 1905, Pope Leo’s !
successor, Pope Pius X, concurred in their judgment. The following March
4, 1906, he proclaimed to the Cardinals and Consultors of Rites, that the
solemn beatification of Julie could be proclaimed with certainty and secur- 1
ity. This public proclamation took place on March 19, 1906 and the solemn
beatification took place in St. Peter’s Basilica, Rome, amid great splendor
and solemnity on May 13, 1906. At this ceremony she was given the title of !
Blessed Julie, and it is by this title that she is reverently known today to
the nearly 4,000 of her Sisters scattered throughout the world. Likewise to i
the more than 200,000 children whom the Sisters teach, and the many thou-
sands of Alumnae, from their academies and colleges in America, and in
other parts of the world.

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509

If Bishop Purcell, who became the second Bishop of Cincinnati in 1833,
had not promised an American nun, to call upon her sister, Baroness de
Coppens, upon the occasion of a visit to Europe in 1839, the great endow-
ments of this Religious Institute, might have been denied Ohio. It was on
one of his several trips to Europe to beg money with which to build schools
and churches, and to seek volunteers among the clergy and religious in the
building up of the Church in Ohio.

He had never heard of this Religious Institute. Upon calling at the
home of the Baroness, he learned that she was in Namur, making a retreat
at the Convent of Notre Dame. Desirous of fulfilling his promise he made
the trip to Namur, and there met the Baroness and made the acquaintance
of the Superior, Mother Ignatius Goethals. Before another year had elapsed,
he invited the Sisters to come to Ohio.

They arrived the evening of Oct. 31, 1840, and were given hospitality
for six weeks in the convent of the Sisters of Charity, who had been the
first to come to Ohio, in 1829.

The small house on Sycamore St., which had been provided for the
Sisters, proved inadequate for their educational program. For themselves,
they sought only shelter, no luxuries; but for the children, who enrolled
immediately, they sought the best that could be provided. The Notre Dame
Convent, Sixth St., Cincinnati, now in use almost a century, was purchased.
It was known as the Spencer Mansion at the time of its purchase and it was
bought for $24,000.

On Jan. 18, 1841, less than three months after their arrival, they opened
their academy, known as the Young Ladies Institute and Boarding School.
Until Sept., 1938, it served as a day school and academy. It now serves as
i the mission house for Sisters who attend to the duties of the Xavier Day
Nursery, and who teach in several of the parish schools in Cincinnati. Art
and music classes are also conducted from here.

For 82 years, from 1833 until 1915, when St. Rita’s school for the Deaf
was opened as a diocesan Institute, the Sisters conducted a school for deaf
mutes in this convent. One of the Sisters in charge of the school, SISTER
MARIE THERESE was trained by Alexander Bell, in his experimental school
for the Deaf in Washington, D. C., and the work of the Sisters received
high commendation from the famous inventor on the occasion of a visit to
the school.

When St. Rita’s school for the deaf was opened as a boarding school and
placed in charge of the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati, SISTER MARIA
ANTONIO, another Notre Dame sister, specially trained in this work, in-
structed the two Sisters of Charity. All of the equipment used by the Notre
Dame Sisters, in their instruction of the deaf, was donated to St. Rita’s new
school.

Time marched on rapidly for these Sisters of Notre Dame. The Sisters
term their first decade in Cincinnati as being marked by a “tropical growth.”

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WOMEN OF OHIO

Postulants for the Religious Institute, desiring to dedicate their lives to
religion, and pupils came in large numbers and with these came also increased
demands upon the time of the Sisters.

In 1845 their first branching out from Cincinnati took place. Five Sisters
accepted the invitation of Father Rappe to help him establish a school in
Toledo. Father Rappe who was to become the first Bishop of the new diocese
of Cleveland, established in 1847, had accompanied the Sisters to Ohio in
1840. He came on a similar mission to theirs, to give his services to the
struggling church in Ohio.

The Maumee fever was raging in Toledo at the time, and whole families
were being stricken.

The year Bishop Purcell became Bishop of Cincinnati, a diocese had
been established in Michigan with Detroit as the episcopal see, and Bishop
Purcell’s territory now included only Ohio. The Cincinnati diocese in its
original set-up in 1821 included Ohio and Michigan. He, like his predecessor
traveled about the State and kept in constant touch with his flock. His priests
and people knew of his journeys through Ohio, from the letters he sent to
the Catholic Telegraph, Ohio’s first English Catholic paper, which was estab-
lished in Cincinnati in 1831.

In one of these letters he wrote of the Notre Dame Sisters, whom he
visited in 1846 :

“We cannot sufficiently admire the heroism with which these Sisters,
with the humble but confident hope of being useful to religion and society,
disregarded the fears of the “Maumee” fever, from which, through the
divine blessings on such devotedness as theirs, they have experienced that
there was nothing to fear . . . The Sisters of Notre Dame will not be forgotten
in future years when the earliest and most efficient pioneers are commem-
orated.” Sister Louis de Gonzagues, who headed the original band of eight
from Namur, became superior of the Toledo mission group.

The Sisters remained only two years in Toledo and returned to Cin-
cinnati. A year later, in 1849, they received a call to teach in schools in
Boston and Roxbury, Mass.

One of the five who went to Toledo. Sister Aloysius was appointed
superior of the group sent to Massachusetts, and quite unconsciously she made
history when, in 1854, she publicly and vigorously opposed proposed legis-
lation in the Massachusetts State Legislature, which, if passed, would permit
violation of the rights of convent groups.

So valiantly did she defend the right of privacy for the Religious Sister-
hoods that many Protestants rallied to her support and the bill was defeated.

In the period of 40 years, from 1845 to 1886, the original foundation
expanded from one convent to 28, its members from eight Sisters to 800,
and its pupils from 30 to 23,000.

WOMEN OF OHIO

511

Today in the United States, convents that have branched from the
Cincinnati motherhouse have a total of 2,080 Religions. They conduct 45
high schools; three colleges; four teachers training schools, and teach in 100
elementary schools. They teach a total of 52,842 children in the United States.
In Ohio they teach in 33 grade schools; six high schools. Three of these high
schools are in Cincinnati, and others are in Reading, Columbus and Dayton,
Ohio.

The Summit Country Day school, located on East Walnut Hills, has
gained national renown for its progressive methods of education. This site
was purchased by the Sisters in 1888.

In 1860 the attractive site at Reading, Ohio, now the Motherhouse, was
purchased.

An important part in the almost phenominal growth and expansion of
the Religious Institute’s program prior to and since 1886, when she became
superior, was played by SUSAN McGROATY of Cincinnati, who was one of
the first pupils in the Sixth St. Convent, in 1840. She was the very first
Ohioan to enter this Religious Institute for service in Religion. She became
known in religion as Sister Julia.

She it was who visioned an even broader expansion of educational
opportunities for women, when in 1900 she established Trinity College in
Washington, D. C. The site for this was purchased in 1897 and consisted of
thirty-three acres of land, located in Brookland, D. C., a suburb of Wash-
ington and in close proximity to the Pontificial University, known as Catholic
University.

The first class of 22 students enrolled on Nov. 7, 1900. In this class was
a Youngstown, Ohio woman, FLORENCE RUDGE McGAHAN, who, upon
her graduation, became one of the compilers for the Catholic Encyclopaedia
and translated much of the research material for the many volumes of
information from French into English. One of the chief works in which the
Sisters were pioneers from the very founding of the Institute in France, has
been to train and to instruct children for reception of the Blessed Eucharist
and today in Ohio Sisters are engaged in this extra curricula activity of in-
structing in religion, children who do not attend parish schools.

Another work worthy of note was the thirty years service of the Sisters
headed by SISTER FRANCIS REGIS, Cincinnati, among the colored children
of St. Ann’s parish. This work was carried on from 1897 until 1927, when
| the Blessed Sacrament Sisters, founded by Katherine Drexel, of the famous
j Drexel Banking family of Philadelphia, took over the work. The present
Madonna High School was once the Notre Dame academy conducted for the
I colored boys and girls. The Sisters now teach the colored children of St.
John’s high school, Dayton.

Tn the letters of Mother Julie Billiart, carefully preserved in the mother-
house at Namur, Belgium, are to be found admonitions and injunctions to

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the various superior of the convents over which she presided as General
Superior. Some of these letters, which portray gems of wisdom and educa-
tional ideas far in advance of her time, merit recording here. They not only
throw light upon the great qualities of mind and soul of Blessed Julie, but
they serve also to emphasize the importance which she placed upon religion ,
as necessary in the full education of the child.

“The teachers of Our Institute must have but one aim in education, to
train up Christian mothers and Christian families.”

“Courage, my dear good Daughters, make use of every moment that
you have to improve yourself. Go on with the studies that are useful, even
necessary for you.”

“Children are not disciplined in a day. Consolation will come. But do
not be in a greater hurry than God. He is so patient with us all. Let us follow !
His example. What matter if few seem to profit by the Grace of God? Let
us go on sowing the seed, it is God who gives the increase. A little patience,
and you will see the fruit.”

“The Christian schoolmistress must before all else be pious; but hers
must be piety which unites the soul to God, makes it lean on God only, work
for God, and always in His presence. Remember all your life if you are i
not ‘interior,’ you may seem to yourself to have done a great deal for the
welfare of the children committed to your care, but you will have made a
noise — nothing more. A single word spoken by an interior soul, is worth
more than the longest sermon in the world.”

“The dignity of the child must never be lost sight of in the exercise of
authority. Above all things, speak with respect to the children if you wish
them to respect and love you.”

“If you do not look after temporal things, I shall always say that your i
piety cannot be genuine ; for we are made up of soul and body and both must |
be cared for. In the boarding schools the food should be wholesome, the !
cooking well done ; above all, give the children good bread. Teach them to
love nature and let them have little gardens to care for.”

“In your instructions often say: ‘A woman ought to be able to do every-
thing for herself. She should be ready, if necessary, to do without all service i
and know how to make use of everything. If you are not obliged to work
for yourselves, work for the poor. There are always unfortunate people who
need help.’ ”

“Teach your children all kinds of needlework from the elements of
sewing and the making of garments to church work embroidered in gold
and silver. ’ ’

“Needless to say, a Sister of Notre Dame’s highest ambition should be
to give solid instruction in Christian Doctrine and in Christian Ethics.”

The Sisters of Notre Dame have faithfully cherished these admonitions
of Blessed Mother Julie, written more than a century ago. They have not

WOMEN OF OHIO

513

only cherished them, but obeyed them. In order to adequately prepare them-
selves for the high and noble profession of teaching, the Sisters pursue higher
studies in Universities. It is a rule of the Institute in Ohio that any Sister
showing a special talent shall be encouraged to pursue higher studies for
necessary development.

The educational facilities of Cincinnati afforded through the Athenaeum,
the Archdiocesan College, Xavier University, The University of Cincinnati,
The Cincinnati College and the Cincinnati Museum of Art, are used by the
Sisters. Others have studied in Trinity College and Catholic University,
Washington, D. C. ; Notre Dame University, Loyola and De Paul Universities,
Chicago; University of Dayton; St. Mary’s of the Springs, at Columbus. Still
others have worked at Columbia University, New York; and Western Reserve
in Cleveland.

One of the favorite sayings of Blessed Julie, and one which is repeated
daily in the spiritual readings of the Sisters is this:

‘‘A Sister of Notre Dame must leave God a completely free hand in
dealing with her.”

Because the original eight Sisters who left their motherhouse in Namur
had such implicit faith in God and resigned all else to His will, Ohio gen-
I erally and the field of education particularly, have been the beneficiaries of
a heritage that is beyond human ability to evaluate.

SISTERS OF NOTRE DAME

Another branch of Notre Dame nuns who look to Mother Julie Billiart
I as their foundress, have provincial houses in Cleveland and in Toledo. In
| 1874 eight Sisters came from Coesfield, Germany and located in Cleveland.
The German foundation had been established in 1850 by two women, Alde-
gonda Wolbring, known in religion as SISTER MARY ALOYSIA and Lisette
Kuehling, in religion, SISTER MARY IGNATIA. They had received their
training for the religious life in the convent of the Nuns of Notre Dame de
Namur, located in Amersfoert, Holland, and immediately following their
1 religious profession came to their native Coesfield at the invitation of their
pastor, the Rev. Theodore Elting, to establish a convent there.

The religious persecution of Bismarck’s which began in 1871, caused the
j Sisters to look elsewhere for fields of service and Bishop Richard Gilmour
j of Cleveland graciously extended the hospitality of his diocese, in 1874. It
1 is from this Cleveland foundation that two other provincial houses have
i been established, one in Covington, Ky., and the other in Toledo, Ohio.

In the Toledo convent, located at Secor and Monroe Sts., resides SISTER
I JUSTINIA, an 88 year old nun, who observed her 70th anniversary of re-
ligious profession in March, 1939. She was one of the exiled nuns who came
j to America in 1875, a year after the Cleveland convent was opened.

The Sisters of Notre Dame are primarily an order of teachers and con-
sequently every advantage is afforded them to fully qualify for this important

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WOMEN OF OHIO

role. As early as 1874, when the first group of eight Sisters came to Cleveland,
six of these were fully accredited teachers and in the several years which
followed, when the fury of the Kulturkamp forced nuns of all religious orders
to flee Germany, of the 200 who came to Cleveland in 1875 and 1876, all of
them were fully accredited teachers — only the English language was foreign
to them, but this barrier was soon eliminated.

Notre Dame’s first school in Ohio was St. Peter’s school in Cleveland
and other parish schools, mostly of German people, were soon staffed by
these Sisters. They became known in the present area of the Toledo diocese
in 1876 when Sisters took charge of St. Joseph’s school, Fremont and St.
John’s school, Delphos.

Sister Mary Aloysia who was one of the founders of the German con-
vent, was among the eight who came to Cleveland in 1874. She was the
daughter of a metallist, who was financially able to give his daughter every
educational advantage. Because she had a desire to work among poor children,
she enrolled in the Teacher Training College at Muenster conducted by Ber-
nard Overberg. She successfully passed the State Teachers examination and
was engaged in school work in Coesfield before entering upon the religious
life.

MOTHER MARY CHRYSOSTOM superior of the German convent at
the time of her exile, was the foundress of the American foundation in
Cleveland. She was the daughter of J. C. Heck, musical director and virtuoso,
and she, too, had been given an excellent education. She excelled in the arts
and languages. Music, French and fancy needlework were studied under
private tutors. She received her formal schooling from the Ladies of the
Sacred Heart, a religious order already known to Ohio. Mother Chrysostom
also had a Teachers certificate upon her arrival in America.

It was under such well trained leaders that the Notre Dame Sisters began
their work in Ohio and in Kentucky, and to this day the same high standards
of teaching qualifications are maintained.

In the Cleveland provincial house, of the 577 members, 179 hold Bachelor
degrees, 47 Masters, six Doctors of philosophy and two registered Nurses with
Bachelor of Science degrees.

In the Toledo convent of 260 members, many hold bachelor and masters
degrees, two are now working towards their doctorate degrees. One of these
SISTER M. IMMACULATE has initiated the movement to teach Latin in
the elementary schools of the Toledo diocese and has already completed the
fourth in the series of text books for this special work.

The Cleveland Sisters are in charge of the model elementary school which
is an important part of the Teachers Training School of the Catholic Uni-
versity, Washington, D. C.

Among the first pupils of the Cleveland foundation, were two who rose
to high positions in the Notre Dame order. One MOTHER MARY EVARISTA,

WOMEN OF OHIO

515

the present provincial superior of the Cleveland convent, and MOTHER
MARY FERDINAND, who was provincial superior from 1931 to 1934 of the
Toledo provincialate, established in Toledo in 1924. Mother Evarista was
Anna Harks. Her parents, of pioneer German families of Cleveland, were
among those who extended hospitality to the exiled nuns upon their arrival
| in Cleveland in 1874.

In 1877, under Mother Chrysostom’s leadership, the first convent was
I erected on Superior Ave. and 17th Sts., Cleveland. It continued to be the
| property of the Notre Dame nuns, and for many years served as a girl’s
academy. It is now a residence hall for business women and serves also as
a down town religious center for week end spiritual retreats for women. The
I Provincial house is now located in Ansel Rd., on a site overlooking Rockefeller
! Park.

The Cleveland sisters also conduct Notre Dame Academy and Notre
i Dame College in Cleveland ; teach in 14 parochial schools in Cleveland, five
I of which have high schools in connection with the elementary schools. Within
j the Cleveland diocese, but outside of Cleveland, they teach in parish schools
in Avon, Canton, Elyria, Independence, Lorain, Massillon, No. Ridgeville,
Sheffield, Suffield, Warren and Youngstown. They conduct junior high and
elementary schools at Canton and Warren. Some of their members are on
the faculty of Catholic Sisters College, Cleveland.

In 1923 a group left for Brazil to engage in missionary and educational
work, and on three different occasions since, others have left the Cleveland
convent to join the original group. They conduct also St. Joseph’s orphanage
at Superior, Wis., and are in charge of the domestic work at Holy Cross
Seminary, Notre Dame, Ind. They conduct schools in Huntington Park, Watts,
Maywood and Hollywood in California and St. Thomas’ school, Memphis, Tenn.

The teaching personnel in the Toledo convent numbers 200 and includes
10 Sisters who are on the faculty of Central Catholic High School, Toledo ;
two as full time instructors and one full time librarian at DeSales College,

; Toledo. They conduct Notre Dame academy and “Ladyfield” private school
in Toledo and teach in 25 parish elementary and five parish high schools in
the Toledo diocese. Ten of these are located in Toledo and one each is in
Dclphos, Fremont, Peru, Maumee, Napoleon, Norwalk, Crestline, Fostoria,
i Sandusky, Monroeville, Leipsic, Shelby Settlement, Raab, Momeneetown,
Bellevue and Defiance.

LAYWOMEN

The laywoman’s part in early days of the Catholic Church in Ohio was
i hidden for the most part but throughout the history of the church in Ohio
! there is evidences of the persuasiveness, the loyalty, the devotion, and the
| zeal of Catholic women. While their work in pioneer days consisted mainly
I °f the faithful performance of their duties, yet, in such performance, there

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WOMEN OF OHIO

were deeds worthy of remembrance, even though they were accepted as mere 1
performance of duties.

Catherine Dittoe in 1818 need not have signed away the title to 320
acres of land to be used for Church purposes, yet she did so willingly, solely r
for the purpose of establishing a permanent foundation for the Catholic Church
in Ohio.

Were it not for the records in the Perry County Court, this act of hers
might have gone on down virtually unknown through the ages and her praises
for this generous act remained unsung. The land still remains today in posses- j
sion of the Order of Saint Dominic, a religious order of men, founded in the
thirteenth century, whose American foundation in Springfield, Kentucky in
1818, was due to the efforts of Father Fenwick, its first superior.

The influence of this act of Catherine Dittoe has been felt throughout Ohio. !i
Neighboring cities of Lancaster, Chillicothe and other nearby places had the
opportunity for religious services because of her act which made it possible j
for a permanent foundation to be laid for the Catholic Church in Ohio.

It was from this center at Somerset, Ohio, that missionaries, priests of
the Dominican Order, traveled to the remote corners of Ohio and even into
Michigan, preaching the Catholic Faith. Even today, more than a century j
later, the Somerset foundation of the Dominican Order, made possible through
the gift of Catherine Dittoe, continues to wield a great influence in the reli-
gious life of Ohio. Her act might well be likened to the cornerstone, upon
which is being built in Ohio today a great superstructure of religious ideals ;
like the cathedrals of Europe which were centuries in the building. Each
generation of women, since her day has offered its own contribution of service i
and achievements, keeping in mind always the objective towards which they
are striving and obediently and graciously responding to the call of their |
spiritual and civic leaders.

MARIA BOYLE, who was to do her part in the generation which fol-
lowed Catherine Dittoe, was brought up in the home of her aunt, SUSAN
GILLESPIE BEECHER and Uncle Philomen Beecher, following the death of
her mother when Maria was a small child. Maria’s parents, Hugh Boyle and
Ellen Gillespie Boyle and the Beechers had preceded the Dittoes to Ohio by
a few years, and considered themselves neighbors even though there was a I
difference of eighteen miles. The Dittoes lived at Somerset and the Boyles
and Beechers at Lancaster.

The fact that there was a church at Somerset, and that a log cabin church
had also been erected at Lancaster with the permanent pastorate at Somerset,
from which center priests visited Lancaster once a month, was another bond
that brought these families closer together. I

Meanwhile Maria Boyle became of age, and in due time married Thomas
Ewing, a lawyer. He had practiced law in Lancaster following his graduation i
from Ohio University at Athens and was one in the first class of two to be
graduated from Ohio University in 1815. During the five years that intervened!

WOMEN OF OHIO

517

between his graduation and his marriage, on Jan. 7, 1820, Ewing established
a reputation as a distinguished barrister. He prospered in this profession,
and so was able to provide a very comfortable home for his wife.

He was instrumental in establishing the famous Coon-skin library of
Athens County, which was made possible by a donation of ten skins from
Ewing and skins from others in the county. The first collection of skins
I brought in a total of $73.50 when sold in Massachusetts and with this money
as many books of the classics as the money would buy were obtained.

Mr. Ewing had for a sponsor Charles Sherman, a lawyer, and father of
Civil War General Sherman. He was one of the trustees of Ohio University
I who with his wife Mary Hoyt, a graduate from an Eastern school, had come
I on from Connecticut to settle in Lancaster. MARY HOYT SHERMAN was
about ten years older than Maria Boyle Ewing, but despite this difference
I in ages they were very close friends, and when William Tecumseh Sherman
I was born on February 8, 1820, Maria Boyle Ewing was the first to greet the
new babe and his mother.

Thomas Ewing had prospered as a lawyer and his business sent him on
many trips throughout the State so that he was absent from home a great
} deal. He had built what was regarded as a mansion on the site of a hill and
this home served as a house of hospitality to Father Fenwick on the occasion
| of his visits to Lancaster.

A small log cabin church had been built in Lancaster but no resident
priest had been assigned as pastor. Father Fenwick and his nephew. Father
Dominic Young, would visit Lancaster once a month, remain a week in the
I Ewing home, instructing adults and children and on these occasions the
Ewing home not only became a house of hospitality for the priests but became
lilso a religious school for the children and adults of the neighborhood. On
the intervening Sundays Mrs. Ewing would pile as many people as possible
i nto her carriage and drive the eighteen miles to Somerset, Ohio to attend
Mass and religious instructions. Mr. Ewing, when away, would hurry home
50 as to accompany his wife to Somerset for Mass though he was not a
Catholic.

While the Ewings prospered, the Shermans experienced financial reverses,
md in June 1829 Charles Sherman died, leaving his widow and a family of
j leven children impoverished. The Ewing children and the Sherman children
drew up together and were inseparable. Tn the desire to ease a burden,
Chomas Ewing proposed to Mrs. Sherman, that “Cump” Sherman, as William
| ecumseh Sherman was known, be allowed to come to live with the Ewings
nd to share the home with the six Ewing children.

Among the Ewing children was Ellen Ewing, born October 4, 1824. Ellen
I nd “Cumpy” were playmates, later sweethearts, and together they have
I r ritten another interesting chapter in the history of Ohio and the nation.

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WOMEN OF OHIO

Ellen’s mother had received her education in a private school in Lancaster
taught by a Janies Hunter and later studied in Washington, D. C. in one of
the convents there. Among the well-to-do of that period, the convent school
training for non-Catholic as well as Catholic girls was most popular.

To Mrs. Ewing, perhaps, must go the credit for establishing the first
Ladies Aid Society in the Catholic Church in Ohio. The group which she
organized really had no name ; it was just a group of her neighbors, Catholic
and non-Catholic alike, whom she had invited to meet with her in her home
to sew and to assist in the work of the small Catholic Church of Lancaster.

Mr. Ewing, in 1831, was elected Ohio Senator and was required to spend
much of his time in Washington, D. C., while the family home was still con-
tinued in Lancaster. Ellen was her father’s favorite. Thomas Ewing by his j
eloquence and his learning had won the affection and admiration of Daniel
Webster and Henry Clay and these two men were frequent visitors in the
Ewing home at Lancaster. Ellen and “Cumpy” often were eavesdroppers
to the arguments and discussions concerning the Constitution and the Union, j
and although still mere babies, what they heard impressed them.

The Ewing home was the scene of many social gatherings and on one |
occasion, Mrs. Thomas Ewing made the society page of the newspapers when j
mention was made of a party which the Ewings gave for their distinguished
visitor, Daniel Webster. This was in 1835, so, even in those days, the society
page editor had come into being.

A frequent visitor to the Ewing home was a cousin of Mrs. Ewing’s, James
G. Blaine, who was years later, in 1884, to oppose Grove Cleveland for the
presidency. Of the Ewing hospitality he said, that he had never visited any
home where he was made to feel so welcome.

During Mrs. Ewing’s residence in Washington, her house was the center
also of many notable social gatherings in which distinguished guests took part, j
among them men whose names are famous in history, John Quincy Adams,
John C. Calhoun, Henry Clay, and others.

John Calhoun wrote in her album: “I obey with pleasure your command
to record my name in this album, accompanied with my best wishes for vour
health and happiness.” On another occasion Daniel Webster wrote: “I am!
happy, my dear Mrs. Ewing, to have an opportunity of placing among thel
contents of this little volume the assurance of my sincere regard and warm
wishes for you and yours.”

General William H. Harrison, who was the successful Whig candidate
for the presidency in 1840, was another to add his name and his greetings
to Mrs. Ewing’s album. He wrote, “ Accept dear Madam, my best wishes for
your own happiness and that of your interesting family.”

Mr. Ewing was named Secretary of the Treasury in President Harrison’s
cabinet, and his 16 year old daughter Ellen had the pleasure of attending!
with her father the inauguration of President Harrison.

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519

When the Ex-Emperor Iturbide of Mexico sold his household goods at
auction in Washington, Thomas Ewing attended the sale, and among the
treasures he purchased for his wife and which he had sent on to Lancaster
were a small rosewood piano with candle rests on either side ; some oil paint-
ings, inlaid tables, silver, and other luxuries.

One can easily appreciate the asset to the community of such a person
as Maria Boyle Ewing. Having so much in common with her husband and
sharing in so many of the delightful and informative conversations engaged
in by him and his friends in governmental circles, it is not hard to imagine
that here was a woman not only cultured and spiritually minded, but well
informed and civic purposed as well.

Mark and Samuel Howe conducted a private school in Lancaster by the
time Ellen was ready for school and with other children of the community
she attended this school. Latin and Greek as well as the common branches
were taught by these brothers and in between times Ellen attended a French
School for the study of French and music.

She was later placed in the school at Somerset, Ohio, conducted by the
Sisters of Saint Dominic while her parents were in Washington.

But Ellen had been accustomed to a rather care-free life, and no doubt
the strict discipline of a boarding school for girls palled on her. When given
permission one day to accompany another student to the postoffice to get
the convent mail, she noted the stage coach standing in front of the tavern,
jumped in, and hid herself in back of the stage.

It so happened that an uncle was a passenger on the stage. He took
charge of Ellen and escorted her to her home. It was a much chagrined girl
who returned to school after a few days. The coolness with which she was
received by the Sister in charge was sufficient punishment. Ellen never
played truant again.

She later went to school to the Visitation Nuns at Georgetown, a suburb
of Washington, D. C. and it was while a student here that she became an aide
for the Catholic Church in Ohio.

In the meantime, Catholics of Lancaster had outgrown the old log cabin
| church and a new one was being built. Maria Boyle Ewing was one of the
prominent movers in the project. She organized the women of the community
to sew on altar linens and vestments. They also gave a financial contribution
i which made it possible for the new church to be plastered and made ready
for use, long before the scheduled time.

Ellen was the shopper for the family while in Washington and almost
I every letter from her mother brought forth a request for something or other
and ended always with an appeal for her to solicit aid for “our poor struggl-
( ing church.”

In the meantime, “Cumpy” Sherman had been sent to West Point, was
graduated and received an army assignment. Correspondence between Ellen

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and “Cumpy” continued. Ellen, like her mother, grew up to be devout, civic
minded, and deeply interested in affairs of government and church. She was
the soul of culture and great dignity and charm.

Ellen’s school days ended in February, 1842, and she returned home with
her father, the proud possessor of two gold medals, one for music, as she was
an accomplished harpist, and another for “ superior excellence” in the senior
circle, and still another award in drawing.

Ellen began to take over the responsibilities of the household, since her
mother now was ill a great deal of the time. As one of her daily tasks, she
took care of the altars at Saint Mary’s Church across the way from her
home, and placed fresh flowers daily upon the altars.

Ellen and her mother visited the poor of the city, and on more than one
occasion when the mother in the family died, it was not unusual for the
Ewings, mother and daughter, to bundle up the children and bring them to
their home until some disposition could be made for them. Some of these
became permanent guests. It became necessary to enlarge the house; the
stables, and on some occasions, Mr. Ewing’s law offices, were taken possession
of in order to keep children from the alms house or orphanage.

Mrs. Ewing and her husband traveled to Cincinnati in November of
1845 to attend the dedication of the new Saint Peter’s Cathedral there, and
she wrote a glowing account of the ceremonies to Ellen. “To give you any
idea of the splendor of the Church, the heavenly music, the grand and
imposing ceremony would be impossible. Therefore I will not attempt it. I
will tell you all the rest of the news when I write again.”

The dedication ceremonies must have carried over for some time, because
Mrs. Ewing writes again: “I have been so busy attending church that I
have not had time to go to the mantua makers to see about fashions and to
get patterns. We have three or four Masses every morning, and a sermon
every evening since Sunday. We have had a great and glorious time. I do
not ever expect to be again so happy on earth as I have been in the past
week.”

When women went traveling in those days they kept in mind the interests
of their neighbors and friends. On this same visit to Cincinnati, she informs
Ellen that she does not notice any difference in the styles worn in Cincinnati
from those worn at home in Lancaster, and then she writes: “Tell Louise I
could not advise her how to have her dress made to be most in style.” She
continued — “dresses are worn shorter than formerly, two wide flounces are
used frequently; waists are very long, very high in the neck; tight sleeves
with trimming running up them to the elbow (or cut with scallops laced to-
gether with a cord) and a white undersleeve of course all the way down.”

About the same time that Maria Boyle Ewing was starting her work
for the Catholic Church in Southern Ohio, two other women, MARGARET
SHEHY McALLISTER and MARY SHEHY WOODS, daughters of Daniel

WOMEN OF OHIO

521

Shehy, who settled in Youngstown, Ohio in 1796, were beginning their work
for the Church.

On Father Fenwick’s first visit to the northeastern section of Ohio, said
to be about 1817, he found a colony of Irish and German Catholics near
Dungannon. They had come from the Allegheny mountain regions. Some
had emigrated from Europe and were employed on the Ohio River canal. He
offered Mass and administered the Sacraments in a frame house of Daniel
McAllister, which still stands in Dungannon, in Columbiana County, a short
distance from the Ohio River.

Daniel McAllister’s wife, Margaret Shehy, was the daughter of Daniel
Shehy, who settled in Youngstown, Ohio, in 1796. Shehy had emigrated from
Ireland. He had the background for the study of law, a study which he
pursued in New York while employed as a court clerk. He was also a
surveyor and so, when John Young purchased from the Connecticut Land
Company the land which now constitutes Youngstown, and is named for
John Young, Shehy was induced by Young to accompany him as a surveyor
and to locate in the township.

Shehy is believed to have been a member of the surveying party which
accompanied Moses Cleaveland to the Western Reserve to plot out the land
in the Western Reserve area. It is for this Moses Cleaveland that the city of
Cleveland is named.

With $2,000 in gold, Shehy purchased 1,000 acres of land in Youngstown
Township from John Young, 400 acres were on the north side of the Mahoning
River, and 600 acres on the south side.

Shehy ’s great great granddaughter, GERTRUDE WOODS GREINER,
of Youngstown, in a brief history of the Shehy family in Youngstown and
in Ohio, describes the first cabin of her ancestor as “made of rough logs, about

1 16 by 20 feet, one story high, all in one room, which served as a kitchen,
sitting and bed room. The space between the logs being well filled with clay
mortar, made it warm. The big open fireplace, five or six feet wide, a good
devourer of wood. The chimney outside the walls, made of split lath, well
mortared. The roof made of clapboards, three or four feet long, weighed
down with rough logs. Shingles were a thing unknown, as there were no
nails to put them on. One door opening and one window. The first season the
only door was a quilt, as there was no boards to make one. The floor was
! made of split logs, dressed level. When they got a door of boards, it was
hung with wooden hinges and wooden laths with a string through to the
outside. No locks were needed in those days except a pin over the latch at
night to keep wild animals out.”

It was to this house that Daniel Shehy brought his bride, Jane McLain,
whom he met in Beaver, when he had gone with others of the settlers to
: celebrate the Fourth of July. She was born in Westmoreland County and
her people located in what is now known as Pittsburgh. The honeymoon trip

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WOMEN OF OHIO

from Beaver to Youngstown was on horseback, both of them riding Shehy’s
horse.

Catherine Shehy, their daughter, was born in 1799 and is believed to be
the first white child born in Youngstown, Ohio. She married Neil Campell.

Other children born were Robert in 1801, Mary, wife of William Woods
in 1803, John, born 1805, Daniel Jr., 1808, Margaret, wife of Daniel McAl-
lister, 1810, Lucious, 1813, James, 1816 and Jane, wife of John Lett, 1818.

As the Shehy family increased, they built near the same place, a double
log house, two stories high, or rather two houses, with a six foot hall between
them, in the custom of that day. The hall was open at one end and here
were deposited the riding and pack saddles, axes and other tools and an
endless assortment of bric-a-bac. Shehy and his family lived in this house
until his death in 1834 at the age of 75 years.

In this primitive forest of Youngstown, wild animals and a subdued but
not an entirely defeated band of Indians roamed. Women lived constantly in
fear during the absence of their husbands from home for one particular
trait of the Indians was to await the departure of the husbands on a long
journey to incite fear in the wife and her children.

On one such occasion, two Indians called at the Shehy home, struck a
tomahawk in a log and went into the cabin. They looked into every corner
of the house, examined the crib in which Mrs. Shehy’s two babies were
sleeping, fondled them, and then left saying that they would do no harm.
Their quest was for salt, a scarce commodity, and very expensive, as it sold
for $10 per bushel.

Part of the time of the early settlers was given to following the trails
of animals in search for salt springs. Otherwise all salt had to be hauled by
wagon over the mountains. So scarce a commodity was it, that with the
discoveries of salt springs in Ohio, the government decreed that these should
be set aside for all of the people in order to prevent a monopoly. The gov-
ernment not only refused to sell the lands but also reserved a sufficient amount
of timber about each salt spring as to afford plenty of wood for fire with
which to boil down the brine.

Others from the Connecticut and Allegheny regions joined the Youngs-
town colony and soon a thriving community was being developed. Forests
were being cleared, saw mills erected. The men used the day time for
tilling, building and repairing, and at night, wood fires served a double
purpose, to clear the forests and to drive away the wild animals that could
not stand the brilliant lights.

Mrs. Shehy became quite the aristocrat of the neighborhood when she
came into possession of a hand mill with which to grind the corn for her
family. It was much in use by her neighbors.

A distance of thirty miles to Beaver had to be traveled in the early
days for the bare sustenances of life. All wearing apparel was of home spun,
and traveling on foot or by horseback was the only mode of conveyance.

WOMEN OF OHIO

523

Shehy, with others of the settlers, had difficulty with John Young over
clear titles to the land which he purchased and this necessitated several trips
back to Connecticut. The trips were made on foot and in the winter time,
as it was the only time that he could be away from his work. Out of the
1,000 acres, when litigation was completed, he was allowed only 320 acres.

Upon the death of Daniel Shehy in 1834 he divided his property among
his children. One of his daughters, MARY SHEHY WOODS, inherited an
uncleared portion of its estate. When she had cleared and plotted it into
lots, she gave a portion of it to the Valley Mill Company, now the Republic
Steel Corporation, as an inducement towards developing an industrial area
in the section. The mill was established. Her father and others of her
family were honored long after in this connection, for in Youngstown, Ohio,
today, such streets as Shehy, Emma, Albert are named for this family. A
public school, Shehy School, is also named for Daniel Shehy.

Among the orphans who found refuge in the Ewing home at Lancaster,
Ohio, were two, FANNY O’NEIL, whom Ellen Ewing regarded as a sister,
as she was mothered by Mrs. Ewing almost from infancy, and ELIZA MARIA
GILLESPIE, some eight months younger than Ellen, a daughter of John
Purcell Gillespie, a first cousin of Ellen’s mother.

Eliza Gillespie was born in Brownsville, Pa., and her childhood plav-
! mate was “ Jimmy” Blaine, her first cousin, who was later to become one
of America’s great statesmen.

Fanny O’Neil was born in Lancaster, Ohio. Eliza Gillespie, upon the
death of her father in 1836, came to Lancaster, Ohio, to live with the Ewings.
Eliza’s mother later married William Phelan, who became one of the great
benefactors of the Holy Cross order of Nuns at Notre Dame, Ind.

Fanny and Eliza both studied with the Dominican Sisters at Somerset,
Ohio and Eliza later continued her studies with the Visitandines, a cloistered
order of Nuns at Georgetown, D. C., in the same convent where her cousin,
Ellen Ewing, was a student.

Both of these orphans carried from the Ewing home the religious and
cultural atmosphere that dominated it and in their chosen fields were able
to extend this influence beyond the borders of Ohio. Fanny O’Neil as SISTER
I ALOYSI of the Dominican Order of Nuns, was to be the first from Ohio to
! volunteer for work in education and orphanage care in the new diocese of
i Monterey, Cal., established in 1850, Eliza Maria Gillespie, as SISTER MARA
, ANGELA of the Holy Cross order of Notre Dame, Ind., made a name which
still ranks high in the history of Catholic Education in America.

One of Sister Angela’s biographers, a Sister of her community, writes of
her: “Lives of the great as a rule leave little private history to record. Those
who spend themselves for others have a beautiful inner life, of which only
God can write the biography.

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WOMEN OF OHIO

“Among the American women who have done great things for God and
country, for Mother Church and for the cause of Catholic education, Mother
Mary Angela of the Sisters of the Holy Cross, ranks with the highest and
noblest. The outer story of her life and its accomplishments is written across
the United States, in schools, in orphan asylums, in hospitals, in homes
wherein fine women do honor to the training received from the Sisters of the
Holy Cross ; but the inner story of her life is written within the Book of Life
by the Hand that is over and above the Universe.”

Sister Angela was vested in the habit of the Holy Cross order March
19, 1853, and was immediately sent to France, where the Mother House of
the Sisters was located, to make her novitiate (to prepare for full entrance
into the religious life of the community) and to study at the same time the
best methods of teaching the deaf and dumb. Upon her return from France
in February, 1854, she was placed in charge of the school conducted by the
Sisters, at their first American foundation, in Bertrand, Mich. Evidence of
her unusual ability is noted in the fact that almost from her very entrance
into this community she was a member of the administrative body of the
Religious order, continued in this capacity until her death in 1887, and is
regarded as the first American born foundress of the order.

She collaborated with Orestes Brownson, one of America’s too little known
philosophers, essayists and brilliant writers of Catholic Apologetics, in the
compilation of text books for Catholic schools. She joined with her brother,
Rev. Neil Gillespie and Father Edward Sorin, French born and founder of
the Holy Cross order of Priests and Nuns in America, in establishing the
magazine “Ave Maria” published at Notre Dame, Ind., a weekly which has
appeared continuously since its founding in 1865.

When the Civil War broke out, Mother Angela, at the request of the
U. S. Government, established three hospitals in Memphis. Tenn., for the
care of wounded soldiers and she headed the army of 80 nurses who volun-
teered for war services.

Of her service, General Grant wrote, “She is a woman of rare charm
of manner, unusual ability and marvelous executive talent.”

ELIZA ALLEN STARR, who was the first woman to receive the Laetare
Medal from Notre Dame University, receiving this award in 1865, and who
as a teacher of literature and director of art in St. Mary’s at Notre Dame,
Ind., was associated with Mother Angela, wrote of her:

“Who does not remember her, who saw her during those years, as a
veritable inspiration, and recall the fact that, whether at St. Mary’s or
Chicago, Philadelphia or Washington (cities where schools of her Order were
conducted), there was that in her presence which put the highest ideals of
education before directresses, teachers and pupils?

“School books — a whole series, according to the best models in use,
adapted to all the grades of the schools taught by the Order, academic or

WOMEN OF OHIO

525

parochial — were in progress; the deaf-mutes were under instruction, and she
seemed perfectly absorbed in the work of Catholic Education when the beat
of the drum, calling on the nation to arm for the defense of ‘the Stars and
Stripes,’ broke the stillness of the seclusion even of St. Mary’s.”

Another biographer wrote :

“The good done by Mother Angela and Her Sisters who served as
nurses during the Civil War can be humanly estimated only by the suffering
soldiers in the warehouses and sheds that masqueraded as hospitals. This
period is another chapter written for Heaven’s eyes only.”

In the interest of her Religious community Mother Angela traveled
abroad frequently, and St. Mary’s College at St. Mary’s, Ind., today bears
eloquent testimony to her exquisite and artistic taste, in the rare paintings,
tapestries and other works of art of which the Sisters are the proud owners.

Despite her 34 years of arduous service in the Church, she was known
to say frequently before her death: “Oh, I greatly fear the judgment of God
and unless I am aided by the charity of others, what shall I do? My soul
is filled with terror when I think how worse than empty handed I am.”

Fanny O’Neil as Sister Aloysi of the Dominican Order was to make a
name for herself, in her quiet, patient and gentle care of the orphans.

In her work, she had the cooperation of Ellen Ewing, who as the wife of
General Sherman lived for awhile in San Francisco, and became one of the
great benefactors of the orphanage of which Sister Aloysi was a part.

Upon one occasion, Ellen Ewing Sherman was responsible for raising
$9,000 on a bazaar given for the benefit of the orphanage, and of the $100.00
given her by General Sherman to spend at the bazaar, she said, “money went
pretty fast, buying ice cream at one dollar a glass and coffee at fifty cents
a cup.”

Ellen wrote to her mother in Lancaster, that she was “too anxious to
save money and get home to indulge in such a luxury — unless invited, as I
was today, by one who is here for life.” For to Ellen, Fanny’s wish was
law — Fanny, her girlhood companion, who had dedicated her life to the care
of the orphans in the Monterey diocese.

FRANCISCAN ORDERS

The rule of “The Poor Man of Assisi,” St. Francis, governs more reli-
gious orders in Ohio today, than does the religious rule of any other founder
j °f a religious or monastic order. Francis was born in Assisi, of wealthy
j parents in the year 1181 or 1182, and died in 1226. Until his 21st birthday,
lie lived a carefree life and had every wish satisfied by indulging parents.
He spent money lavishly upon himself for his own pleasure. Underneath all
of this worldly display, however, this luxurious and selfish living, he did have
compassion for the poor.

A serious illness when he was 21 years of age suddenly turned him away
from worldly pleasures, and directed his mind towards an intense love for

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WOMEN OF OHIO

God and aroused an earnest desire to serve his Creator through service to
others. Upon his complete recovery, he severed all ties with his family and
his friends. He renounced his patrimony, divested himself of his costly rain-
ment, disposed of all of his worldly goods, and donned the coarse brown
tunic-like garment, worn by the poorest of the poor of the time. “ Leave all
and follow Christ,” became the objective of his life. Today, more than 700
years later, there are innumerable thousands enrolled under the banner of
St. Francis in the service of the Catholic Church the world over, who have
voluntarily chosen the same objective, ‘‘Leave All and follow Christ.” Like
St. Francis, their founder, they are going through the world, “carrying
neither bag nor purse, nor bread nor money, nor a staff. ” This was the rule
adopted by St. Francis for himself which is being observed today by all fol-
lowers of St. Francis, as it applies to their own persons.

Ohio and its people have benefited immeasurably through the services
of the many followers of St. Francis. Since 1858, when the Sisters of the
Poor of St. Francis came from Aix-la-Chapelle, Germany to Cincinnati, Ohio,
followers of St. Francis have engaged in varied types of service, from the
service of prayer and penance carried on by the contemplative orders of
the “Poor Clares” and others of the strictly cloistered orders to the more
active service of education ; care of the aged poor ; of the incurable and the
curable ill ; of foundlings, of orphans ; of the needy poor in their homes. In
addition they conduct Schools of Nursing, of Medicine and Surgery for those
pursuing those professions; houses of retreat for lay persons, desirous of
retiring from the world for awhile.

When Francis founded his religious order, men of his own social circle
and others of wealth and prominence joined with him in a religious com-
munity, accepted his three rules — poverty, humility and charity — and at the
same time accepted his ideal of service — to serve Christ through service to
the poor.

Pious women of the day were attracted by reforms brought about by
Francis and his followers and sought to live a similar life, cloistered away
from the world in a religious community. Such a community would have its
existence based in a complete dependence upon God, and the service of its
members, given entirely for the honor and glory of God. Clare, daughter of a
wealthy family, and her sister Agnes were leaders in this new movement.
Under the direction of Francis, the second Franciscan order was founded
and named the “Second Franciscan Order of Poor Ladies.” It is more
familiarly known today as “Poor Clares.” This is a strictly cloistered order
in which the members voluntarily retire from the world, and consecrate them-
selves entirely to prayers, fasting, penance, and acts of charity.

In 1221, men and women who had heard Francis preach in his wanderings
throughout Italy, were moved to follow his example, but home responsibilities

WOMEN OF OHIO

527

and often the nature of their special avocations, prevented them from com-
plete withdrawal from the world. For such as these Francis founded the Third
Order of the Brothers and Sisters of Penance. Its membership consisted mostly
of the laity, although many Popes, Bishops and clergy not identified with any
monastic order, have enrolled under the banner of St. Francis in the Third
Order. This order was to be a kind of middle state between the world and
the cloister, and was to be governed by rules less severe than those binding the
religious of the first and second orders of Franciscans.

The foundresses of the different Franciscan Orders of women in Ohio
had been largely members of this Third Order before entering into the fuller
religious life, to be found in a congregation of Religious. As they lived in
their own homes, and associated with their friends, they had observed Francis’
rules of poverty, humility and charity, and so it was only a short step for
them to embrace the religious life in which they would renounce all things
of the world for service in religion.

SISTERS OF THE POOR OF ST. FRANCIS

The first Franciscan Order for Ohio, the Sisters of the Poor of St. Francis
came to Cincinnati in 1858 through the instrumentality of Mrs. Sarah Peters
of Cincinnati, about whom more is said elsewhere. Frances Schervier, whose
god-father was Emperor Francis First of Austria, founded this religious com-
munity in her native Aix-la-Chapelle, Germany in 1845. Mrs. Peters, on a visit
to Europe in search of religious communities to aid the Catholic Church in
Ohio, was referred to Mother Frances Schervier, who in due time sent five
professed Sisters and a postulant to Ohio. The Sisters of Good Shepherd in
Cincinnati extended hospitality until a former orphanage at Fourth St. and
Central Ave. was made available for them.

These six women left their native Germany, bade good-bye that was to
be forever from their convent friends, their family, and the surroundings
they held so dear — and for no other reason than to prove their great love
for God, in the opportunities for service that would come to them in the
mission fields of Ohio.

Since 1858, when the Sisters established their foundation in Ohio, more
than 1300 women from Ohio and surrounding states have voluntarily given
themselves to the services, which this Congregation of Religious carry on.
Here in Ohio this service is administered through three general hospitals :
St. Mary’s, Cincinnati, their first hospital at Betts and Linn Sts.; St. Eliza-
beth’s at Dayton, Ohio, the first hospital for Montgomery County; St. Francis
hospital, Columbus; and in two hospitals for the chronically ill, St. Francis
hospital at Cincinnati and St. Anthony’s hospital, Columbus. A social service
bureau is conducted at St. John’s convent, Cincinnati.

The “Six Sisters” had scarcely become settled in Cincinnati when the
Civil War broke out, and immediately they responded to the call for service

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WOMEN OF OHIO

to their adopted country. They were first placed in charge of the marine
hospital in Cincinnati and later were transferred to the military hospital on
Third St. The Sisters remained in service here from October 1861 until April
1862 and cared for an average of 100 soldiers daily.

During this period their foundress, Mother Frances Schervier, came from
Germany to aid the Sisters in their work and to lay plans also for the estab-
lishment of other hospitals; St. Francis in Columbus; St. Mary’s, Hoboken,
N. J. and St. Peter’s in Brooklyn. Within the decade following the Civil war,
hospitals were opened by these Sisters in New York City, Newark, N. J.,
and Quincy, 111.

In May, 1862, Mrs. Peters accompanied five Sisters, who boarded the
Steamer Superior, to answer a call for help at Pittsburgh Landing. Arriving
there they found many wounded who had been given no care, and were re-
ceiving none. This neglect spurred Mrs. Peters to action, and becoming im-
patient with governmental red tape, she from her own funds, provided the
necessary medical supplies, food and equipment, with which the Sisters set
up an improvised camp hospital.

When the yellow fever broke out in Memphis, Tenn., in 1867, Sisters from
Cincinnati again answered the call for service. On this occasion they cared
for the sick in their homes. The influenza epidemic in Ohio in 1918 again
found the Sisters meeting all emergencies in their own hospitals and in nurs-
ing in private homes.

Meanwhile, as young women became acquainted with the self sacrificing
services of the Sisters, they sought admission into the Novitiate which had
been established in 1861, just three years after the arrival of the Sisters in
Ohio. Mrs. Peters had given her large home at Third and Lytle Sts. for this
purpose and reserved only two rooms for her own use. One wing and a chapel
were added and here in the Peters home, the novitiate or training center for
hundreds of Catholic women was begun and continued until the erection of
the present St. Clare Convent and novitiate at Hartwell, Ohio in 1895.

Not all of the members of this religious congregation spend their time
in active service. The congregation includes another group, members of which
live the contemplative life. Mother Frances Schervier from the beginning of
her foundation in Germany, visioned one company of her religieuse, living in
retirement from the world, that by their prayers, sacrifices and penances,
there would be drawn down from Heaven blessings of God on the external
activities of the congregation.

In 1862 she sent three Sisters from Germany to Cincinnati to inaugurate
the contemplative side of the congregation. Only those Sisters who had pro-
fessed perpetual vows, and who during their religious life had given evidence
of their inclination towards the contemplative life, are admitted to this group.
These recluses or contemplatives in their turn keep continuous prayerful watch
in the convent chapel.

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529

Four companions joined with Mother Frances Schervier in 1845 in serving
the sick of Aix-la-Chapelle in their homes during a small-pox and cholera
epidemic. An abandoned Dominican convent was later taken over by them
to care for the incurably ill. Soon other women joined them, until they num-
bered 22, all women of wide learning, of social prestige and of considerable
financial means. They desired to forsake all of the pleasures which their posi-
tion in society offered them and so begged Church authorities for the permis-
sion to form a religious society, under the banner of St. Francis, and to be
governed by his rules of poverty, humility and charity. This permission, after
the necessary interviews and investigations was granted, and the name,
“Sisters of the Poor of St. Francis” was given. These Sisters resolved to
serve all who needed help, rich and poor alike. That rule adopted in 1845 still
applies in its many institutions, with the added provision that special solici-
tude be extended always to the sick poor.

The influence of the Sisters extended beyond the borders of Cincinnati,
and attracted women inclined towards a religious life from neighboring cities.
One of these, Mary Kemper of Dayton, became a member of the community
in 1871, and through her, Dayton Catholics became interested in the establish-
ment of a Catholic hospital, with these Sisters in charge.

Miss Kemper’s brother, Philip Kemper, became one of the early bene-
factors. Rev. J. H. Hahne, pastor of Emmanuel Church in Dayton became
interested, and in 1878, St. Elizabeth’s hospital of Dayton was opened in a
two story brick house, most unpretentious in appearance. It had a 12 bed
capacity. Within two years, the Sisters had given care to 1100 patients and of
this number less than eight per cent paid anything towards their care. Proof,
indeed that the rule of the foundress, for special solicitude for the poor, had
been carried out faithfully.

Two eminently qualified Sisters, Sister Emilie and Sister Columba, who
j had nursing and hospital administration experience, were placed in charge
of the new hospital. They evidently succeeded in winning over the many
Dayton citizens who were opposed to the establishment of a “pesthouse”
within the city limits, because in 1882, just four years after the arrival of
the Sisters, Dayton citizens contributed $30,000 towards the erection of the
first wing of the present group of buildings which form St. Elizabeth’s hospital
on Hopeland St., Dayton. Adjoining property had to be bought to meet
service needs in 1884 and in 1891. Tn 1892, a wing for contagious diseases
was erected; in 1903 another wing, which doubled the capacity of the hospital,
j was built, followed in 1910 by another addition and in 1916 by the erection
of the St. Ann’s Maternity unit, which had to be enlarged in 1922.

One of the first pathological clinics in Ohio was established in St. Eliza-
| beth’s hospital in 1891. Its first X-Ray apparatus was installed in 1898.

In 1929 the hospital opened a new home for nurses. Its School of Nursing
I is staffed by college graduates who have received their training in the Sisters’

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WOMEN OF OHIO

School of Nursing of Our Lady Help of Christians at St. Mary’s Hospital,
Cincinnati and in other accredited schools. Ward management and hospital
administration is included in the curricula, and its graduates are engaged in
the public health field, in government hospitals, in schools of nursing with
the Red Cross and even as airline nurses. The nursing school is affiliated with
the University of Dayton and the College of Our Lady of Cincinnati.

St. Elizabeth’s hospital was the first hospital to be opened in Montgomery
County. This despite the fact that the city suffered greatly in the war of 1812,
when according to “The Centinel, ” an early Dayton newspaper, 700 soldiers,
sick and wounded, returned to Dayton to receive care that was sadly lacking.

“Their solemn procession into town,” the news item read, “excited emo-
tion which the philanthropic bosom may easily conceive, but is not in our
power to describe.”

Charlotte Reeve Conover in “The Story of Dayton,” writes of other eras
in Dayton history, in 1833 and again in 1843 when cholera epidemics swept
the city. “In 1833,” she writes, “The Cincinnati canal packet brought up a
load of passengers that Dayton could just as well have done without. All were
suffering from some digestive disorder, and one had died on the way. The 25
afflicted people were taken into one house and into one room, in complete
ignorance of the first necessity of infectious cases — isolation. A doctor and
two nurses volunteered to care for them. In two days the nurses died, and
the doctor was severely stricken. Each day saw one or two of the original
party carried into a general grave and it became quite plain that the mysteri-
ous sickness which had crept into Dayton was nothing less than the dreaded
cholera. ”

Of the 1843 epidemic she wrote: “Many stories were told of the dreadful
suddenness of the illness. People quite well at breakfast time, desperately
ill at noon, and dead before sunset. People were frantic with terror, as well
they might be with a death list of 216 out of a small village in one short
summer. ’ ’

It was to a city undergoing these horrors that the Sisters of the Poor of
St. Francis came in 1878. It must have been a relief to Sister Emilie and Sister
Columba, to welcome as their first patient, an injured railroad worker.

The Ladies society of Emmanuel Church, whose pastor was Father Hahne,
gave the first large donation to the Sisters — $750.00 and down through the
years, this group which has developed into a city-wide hospital auxiliary
known as St. Elizabeth’s society, has been a great source of moral and finan-
cial support to the hospital.

The house to house begging of the early days has changed to the pledged
support from benefactors, from the Community Fund and Montgomery County,
in addition to the income from private room service.

Miss Margaret Strattner was among those who begged from door to door
for the Sisters and their work. She later became a member of the religious

WOMEN OF OHIO

531

community, and was given the name of Sister Felicitas. The hospital of 1878
with its 12 bed capacity has developed until it is today the largest hospital
in Montgomery County and has a bed capacity of 400 patients.

Upon the occasion of its golden jubilee in 1928, Francis C. Gray, M. D.,
F. A. C. S., chief of the surgical division of the hospital, predicted that “the
institution will continue its development, will enlarge its usefulness in a pro-
gressive way, and in the years to follow will prove its worth to the unfortunate
and to the community. Since it has served so long and so well, and has done
so much for disabled humanity, we can safely predict that it will continue the
good work indefinitely, its chief aim being to care for the poor crippled
mortals whom we may always expect to find among us.” Of the Sisters, he
wrote in the Jubilee brochure, “Individuals who voluntarily withdrew from
the follies and fallacies of a sin-cursed world live lives of abnegation, and
devote all their days to the charitable care of others, do a noble work, and
merit the applause of all good people.”

SISTERS OF ST. FRANCIS OF PENANCE AND CHRISTIAN CHARITY

Mother Frances Schervier, who had sent her Sisters to Ohio in 1858, and
who followed them here a few years later to aid in organizing new hospitals
and battlefield service during the Civil war, returned to Germany, there to
lead and to organize groups of her Sisters for nursing service in the Austria-
Prussia war of 1866 and later in the Franco-Germanic war of 1871-1872. In
this latter war, she led a unit of 125 of her Sisters who cared for the sick
and wounded in a manner that won for them governmental gratitude and a
letter of personal appreciation from Empress Augusta.

In 1875, she was to lend encouragement, and to bid God-speed to another
follower of St. Francis, Mother Aloysia, superior of the Sisters of St. Francis
of Penance and Christian Charity, which religious community was founded
in Heizthuisen, Holland in 1825 by Catherine Daemen, a daughter of the
poorest of poor peasants, who lived in the province of Limberg.

When in May 1874, Mother Aloysia was embarking for America with three
of the Sisters to establish a foundation in Buffalo, N. Y., Ohio was not in her
dreams. Nevertheless, Ohio was to gain considerably from this capable reli-
gious leader. Like Mother Frances Schervier, she saw service on the battle-
fields of Europe. On three different occasions within a period of seven years,
! she captained nursing staffs, first in Prussia and Austria’s war against Den-
mark in 1864; in the war between Prussia and Austria in 1866 and in 1871
I in the Franco-Prussian war.

In the war of 1866, she did not await a call for service, but volunteered
with 15 of her Sisters. Their battlefield hospitals consisted of granaries, cow
sheds and barns. In one granary she found 200 wounded soldiers who had lain
there for several days, without attention of any kind. Mother Aloysia immed-
I iately took charge. The soldiers called her “mother” as they died in her arms.

532

WOMEN OF OHIO

It is not be wondered that cholera swept this camp, with the dead un-
buried, the sick and wounded uncared for. Two of Mother Aloysia ’s helpers
died victims of the cholera. Sister Adriana was the first to be stricken and
realizing the imminence of death, refused any service from the Sisters but
bade them, “Leave me to my God, you can do nothing for me; go and attend
to the wounded. I am ready.”

The next day soldiers from nearby regiments sounded taps as her body
was lowered into the grave. Sister Ida, one of the strongest of the company
of Sisters, stood at the grave. The very next day, taps were sounded for her.

On one battlefield, 7300 wounded had been cared for. When Mother
Aloysia was asked to send Sisters to another battlefield, where there were
many French soldiers, she obliged with five Sisters, one of whom could speak
French. “The French soldiers, she believed, would be more inclined to listen j
to a Frenchwoman and to trust her more.” She called this group, “The Minis-
try of the Interior. ’ ’

Mother Aloysia and many of her nursing Sisters were native Hollanders, |
yet their service to humanity transcended nationality lines, and extended to
wherever there was a suffering soul.

It was such a woman, with her remarkable qualities for leadership and
administrative ability, and her high ideals of service, who came to Ohio in
1874 for a visit only. This visit however paved the way for the beginning of
a service in Ohio, which started with work among the orphans in St. Vincent’s j
orphanage, Columbus in 1875, and extended itself to include education, hos-
pital service and other activities. The visit perhaps was providential, for at
that time the May laws of Bismarck’s Kulturkamp were becoming effective
in Germany; convents and monasteries were being closed and their members
dispersed. Some of the German refugee Nuns were drafted for the new
missions in Ohio.

Mother Aloysia and her three companions were destined for Buffalo, i
N. Y. and arrived there. The foundation was established in Buffalo as planned.
The provincial house is now located at Stella Niagara, N. Y.

However, if Sister Leonarda, one of her companions, had not become ill
and in need of hospital care, Ohio may never have come to know of these
Sisters, or to have had the benefit of their devoted service.

Mother Frances Schervier. out of friendship for Mother Aloysia, had sent
word to Mother Vincentia in charge of St. Mary’s hospital at Cincinnati, and
superior of all of the convents in America of the Sisters of the Poor of St.
Francis, that Mother Aloysia and three companions were coming to America, J
and that it was her wish that the Sisters of the Poor of St. Francis extend the
newcomers every courtesy. In obedience Mother Vincentia and a companion
journeyed to New York. Arrangements were made for them to be taken on i
board a small custom-house boat, that would go out to escort the incoming j
European ship, upon which Mother Aloysia and her companions were pas- j

WOMEN OF OHIO

4 »

oo

sengers. It was a surprised group of Sisters on board ship who saw in the
distance, two brown-robed nuns standing in a small boat, and waving greet-
ings of welcome to New York and to America.

The Sisters of the Poor of St. Francis in their New York convent ex-
tended hospitality to the immigrant missionaries. Two of the Sisters were
then sent to St. Michael’s hospital, Newark, N. J. where other Sisters of the
Poor of St. Francis were engaged, and to remain there as guests while the
Hollanders tried to acquire an English vocabulary.

The sea journey began at Antwerp, May 18, 1874 and ended in New York,
June 5, 1874. Sister Leonarda kept a diary of the sea journey, and also of the
early days of the Buffalo and Ohio missions. Their missionary work really
began on the boat, according to her diary, as she relates, that children among
the steerage passengers, dirty, neglected and poorly clad, became the objects
of their solicitude. They begged cotton and linen garments from the pas-
sengers and formed a sewing circle on board ship to make clothing for the
children.

Mother Aloysia and Sister Leonarda continued their journey to Buffalo.
It was only natural that Mother Aloysia should think of her new found
friend, Mother Vincentia in Cincinnati, when it became known that Sister
Leonarda was in need of hospital care. They boarded a train for Cincinnati.
They found the train overcrowded and Sister Leonarda had to sit perilously
on the arm of a seat, while Mother Aloysia steadied her, as she stood in the
aisle. It was an all night ride to Cincinnati from Buffalo.

As if this suffering was not enough, upon their arrival in Cincinnati,
they discovered that they did not know the name or the location of Mother
Vincentia ’s hospital. Having but slight acquaintance with the English lan-
guage, it was a distressing moment for them. Happily the driver of the cab
which they hailed spoke German, and he saved the day for the Sisters. Soon
they were safely in the care of Mother Vincentia in St. Mary’s hospital,
Cincinnati.

It was during this visit in Cincinnati and during the convalescent days
of Sister Leonarda, that the possibility of service in Ohio became known.

At the insistence of Mother Vincentia, Mother Aloysia visited Columbus
to offer the services of her Sisters to Bishop Sylvester Horton Rosecrans, a
native of Homer, Ohio, and the first bishop of the diocese of Columbus, which
had been established in 1868.

This offer of service was a timely one, as Bishop Rosecrans had in mind
the establishment of an orphanage and the development of the parish school
system in his new diocese.

His acceptance of Mother Aloysia ’s offer necessitated more recruits from
Europe and three came from Germany to begin work in St. Vincent’s orphan-
age. These three arrived Dec. 22, 1874, and were given hospitality by the
Sisters of the Poor of St. Francis until the orphanage was made ready for

534

WOMEN OF OHIO

them, which was not to take place until the following February. Eight
orphaned girls formed the first group at St. Vincent’s orphanage. Today, an
average of 200 children receive care.

Today there are 48 Sisters at w r ork in St. Vincent’s orphanage. Two other
Ohio missions, Sacred Heart School, Columbus and the St. Alovsius academy,
day and boarding school, New Lexington, were supplied by German convents.
Mother Sophie and companions came to Sacred Heart school, and Mother
Gonzaga, superior at the Konitz convent in Germany, headed the staff for the
New Lexington mission. There are now 38 Sisters at New Lexington.

Members of this religious community also teach in St. Peter’s school,
Columbus, opened in 3899; St. Leo’s school since 1904 and St. John’s school
since 1906.

The boarding school at New Lexington, in its beginning, was regarded
as “an unknown and inaccessible spot” and Mother Gonzaga received little
encouragement from anyone, particularly from pastors from whom she hoped
to receive much support in obtaining students. It was an ugly square brick
house without doors or windows, when first she viewed it. It was surrounded
on all sides by weeds and not a tree or blade of grass was to be found for
miles around.

Today, that once unlovely spot is a beautiful sylvan retreat among the
hills of Perry County. Shady trees are in abundance. Sister Euphemia, one
of the pioneers, wrote for the archives of her community, in explaining the
presence of trees.

“The trees! Ach — ja we planted them, every one,” she wrote.

In the meanwhile Mother Aloysia established a novitiate or training cen-
ter in Buffalo, and no sooner was this done than Catholic young women of
Buffalo and nearby towns sought admittance to the Religious community.
Mother Vincentia sent Miss Julia Schirck of Cincinnati to remain with the
Sisters there, and to prepare them for teaching. Miss Schirck was in the
novitiate of the Sisters of the Poor of St. Francis at Cincinnati and had been
a public school teacher before taking up the religious life. She remained
with the Buffalo Sisters for a year, instructing them in English and in the
fundamentals of class room teaching in American schools.

Miss Schirck did not come to Buffalo empty handed. Shipped on the
train with her was a large box, which when delivered to the Buffalo convent
revealed a large supply of staple needs for the convent larder — rice, flour,
tea, coffee, and also some utensils for housekeeping needs — a gift from Mother
Vincentia.

Among the first Buffalo recruits for this new religious congregation were
three who were destined to spend most of their religious life in Ohio. Miss
Ethelburga Hardy was one of the first to seek admission, and as Sister Rose
spent 46 years in the classrooms of Sacred Heart School, Columbus. She
died in 1923.

WOMEN OF OHIO

535

Victoria Hoesl became Sister Margaret and Mary Lux became Sister
Josepha. These were in the first class to be professed. Both were qualified to
teach because of their educational attainments, but Sister Margaret asked
for the most laborious of service, and was given the household tasks and
gardening at the New Lexington academy. Sister Josepha was given the work
she longed to do — caring for orphans. She served 38 years in St. Vincent’s
orphanage.

Many young women who found inspiration for religious life in their asso-
ciations with these Sisters, and who are now members of this religious order,
are serving in their various institutions in the Dakotas, in Nebraska, Cali-
fornia, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Colorado and New Jersey. Forty-three
of their members work with the Indians in the Dakotas. Hospitals, nurses
training schools, elementary, high and commercial schools, orphanages, day
nurseries are among some of the activities which they sponsor.

A school for Japanese children in Sacramento, Calif., is one interesting
type of work. A matter of great interest to the American foundation is the
establishment this year of a novitiate in Java, in the East Indies. In this
new novitiate only Javanese aspirants to the religious life will be received.

From the very humble beginning in 1825 of this religious community,
which had for its foundress a peasant girl whose only worldly goods consisted
of a small table, a chair, a stove and a wooden box, the community has ex-
panded into Germany, the East Indies, North and South America, and Africa.

Catherine Daemon, the foundress, known in religion as Mother Magdalen
Daemon, overcame all obstacles, and all objections to projecting any program
that was to benefit humanity, with the simple answer of Faith — “God will
provide.” That statement was on her lips constantly. It continues to be the
motivating power for expansion of the work of this distinguished order of
religious.

SISTERS OF THE THIRD ORDER OF ST. FRANCIS OF PENANCE

AND CHARITY

Five years before Ohio was to welcome the Sisters of St. Francis of
Penance and Christian Charity, Tiffin, Ohio, became the home of a religious
community, almost similar in name — the Sisters of the Third Order of St.
Francis of Penance and Charity.

This religious society was formed in 1869 and its founding is somewhat
unique in that it had for its organizers, a widowed mother, her daughter and
a sister-in-law, all of whom were members of the Third Order of St. Francis.

Their pastor, the Rev. Joseph Bihn, a Bavarian immigrant, was the
inspiration for this unusual religious community. He had come to Cleveland
in 1845 with his parents, and upon completion of his studies for the priest-
hood in St. Mary’s Seminary, Cleveland, in 1856 he was ordained a priest.
His first assignment was to Tiffin, Ohio. Here he had an opportunity to work

536

WOMEN OF OHIO

towards the fulfillment of his life’s dream — special care for orphaned and
dependent children and homeless aged people.

In 1867 he laid the groundwork for the fulfillment of this dream, when
he purchased a 56 acre farm for the sum of $5,000. John Greiveldinger, a
parishioner and widower, tenanted the farm. His widowed daughter, Mar-
garet Schaefer, her two daughters, and a sister-in-law, Josephine Schaefer,
lived with him, and helped with the farm work.

Father Bihn visited the farm home frequently. He made known his
plans. Mrs. Schaefer and her sister-in-law had assisted the pastor in the
educational and religious program of the parish and became equally interested
in this new program of their pastor. They reasoned that the work had better
chance of success, if it could be conducted by members of a religious com-
munity. Miss Lucinda Smith, a neighbor became interested also. Finally
Mrs. Schaefer, her daughter, Mary Ann, her sister-in-law and Miss Smith,
decided to seek the necessary permission of Church authorities to form a
religious community. The Schaefers pooled their resources, which amounted
to $5,000. With this money they erected a three story brick building, which
when finished became the convent, an orphanage and a home for the aged.

Mrs. Schaefer became superior of this community and was given the
name of Sister Mary Francis of Assisi; her daughter, Mary Ann, received
the name of Sister Mary Alacoque; her sister-in-law, Sister Mary Nativity.
Her second daughter, Ann, who entered the community a year later became
known as Sister Mary Bonaventure.

Father Bihn transferred the deed of this property, and incorporated it
under the name of “the Citizen’s Hospital and Orphan Asylum.” It is known
today as St. Francis’ home. Additional property was purchased, until today
the Sisters own a 560 acre site, part of which is a farm. Products of the farm
help to sustain and to provide an income for the Sisters and their work.

From the very early days the Sisters helped with the farm work. The
early records reveal that “the Venerable Mother Francis who shrank from
no hardship, headed the Sisters, in their charitable work amid hard labor,
self denial and sacrifice, shrinking from no work in the house, field or school-
room, working solely for the honor of God and the welfare of those whom
His infinite wisdom brought to their care ; although many an obstacle pre-
sented itself. Men laughed at the undertaking, predicting its dissolution, but
God’s help was not wanting.”

In 1935 the Catholic Charities of the Toledo diocese, through its child-
placing department, made other provisions for orphaned and dependent chil-
dren, so that this phase of the work of the Sisters was discontinued. From
1869 until 1935, 1,650 orphans had been given care.

In 1931 a new building for aged men was built. During the 70 years that
the Sisters have maintained the home for the aged, 650 aged men and women
have been given care.

WOMEN OF OHIO

537

With the development of the parish school system in Ohio, the Sisters
met these new needs by preparing their members for classroom teaching.
Today members of this religions community are on the faculty of Central
Catholic High School in Toledo and teach in the parish schools of Carey,
Frenchtown, New Washington, Millersville, Miller City, Ft. Jennings, Custar,
Blakeslee, No. Auburn, Edgerton, Reed and Landeck.

It is noted that the schools are all in rural communities — this is by
choice, as the Sisters cherish the privilege of serving in small communities,
where the remuneration is likely to be less than in the larger urban com-
munities.

In 1889 the Sisters assumed charge of the domestic work at the Pontifical
College, the Josephinum in Columbus and continued here until 1913.

Hospital work in Lorain, Ohio was undertaken in 1892 when St. Joseph ’s
hospital was established by Sister Alacoque, daughter of the foundress.

A training school and a free dispensary were added to the hospital. This
service was continued until 1927, and under Sister Alacoque ’s administration.
Sisters of the Holy Humility of Mary at Villa Maria, near Lowellville, Ohio,
purchased the hospital at that time, and have continued its administration
since.

Although in the beginning it was predicted by many that this religious
community could not survive, because of the rules it laid down, it has been
and continues to be a growing institution. It has witnessed its greatest growth
since 1900, from which time until now, 110 young women have been received
into the community.

The Sisters maintain their own high school for the education of those
who enter the service of religion, and whose high school work has not been
completed. They are not assigned to schools for teaching until they have
qualified for their State teachers certificate. In preparation for this, higher
studies are pursued in DeSales College, Toledo; College of St. Francis, Joliet,
111. ; DePaul University, Chicago ; Notre Dame University, South Bend, Ind. ;
and Catholic University, Washington, D. C.

A new activity is the hospitality house at Carey, Ohio, which was opened
in 1918 to accommodate the many pilgrims who visit the famous shrine of
Our Lady of Consolation.

SISTERS OF ST. FRANCIS OF THE CONGREOATION OF OUR LADY

OF LOURDES

In Portsmouth, Ohio, Mercy Hospital conducted by the Sisters of St.
Francis of the Congregation of Our Lady of Lourdes, serves as a mission
from the religious foundation of the same name at Rochester, Minn. Members
of this community in Rochester own and conduct St. Mary’s hospital, more
familiarly known as the Mayo Clinic. The Sisters who staff Mercy Hospital
and its School of Nursing, in Portsmouth, received their training for nursing

538

WOMEN OF OHIO

and for medical social service in the famed Rochester hospital.

The Portsmouth hospital was opened only in 1921, and its first building
has been replaced by the present 75 bed hospital which was built in 1923.

The Sisters at Mercy Hospital had the advantage of training under the
distinguished Sister Mary Joseph, who for 47 of the 50 years of St. Mary’s
Hospital in Rochester, had been its superintendent. Sister Joseph died in
March, 1939. For 25 of the 47 years she served as first surgical assistant to
Dr. William J. Mayo. She lived to see the hospital administered by her,
grow from a 45 bed hospital to one of 600 bed capacity, and to reach the high
plane of being referred to as, “one of the leading hospitals in the world.”

Upon the occasion of her death, Dr. Mayo said, “Her management of
the hospital has given St. Mary’s Hospital an unique position, not only in the
esteem of those of the Catholic faith, but also in the esteem of people of all
other religious beliefs, and preeminently in the regard and respect of the
medical profession.”

Ohio had come to know of this religious community, long before the
opening of Mercy Hospital. In 1877 the first Sisters came from Rochester,
Minn, to teach in St. Mary’s and Holy Redeemer schools in Portsmouth and
later others came to open a conservatory of music. Since that time, The
Rochester Foundation has accepted schools in Ironton and in Sts. Peter and
Paul school in Sandusky and Sts. Peter and Paul school, Toledo.

SISTERS OF ST. FRANCIS CONGREGATION OF OUR LADY OF

LOURDES

The Rochester congregation of the Sisters of St. Francis Congregation
of Our Lady of Lourdes is responsible for an Ohio foundation, whose mother-
house is at Sylvania, Ohio, on a site purchased by the Rochester Sisters. This
Ohio foundation was established first in Toledo in 1916, at the invitation of ;
Archbishop — Bishop Schrembs of Cleveland, Ohio — and at that time, the first
bishop of the diocese of Toledo, which was established in 1910.

A Miss Anna Sandusky, daughter of a Polish immigrant family of Cm- j
einnati who entered the Rochester community in 1893, became the foundress
for this Ohio foundation. In religious life she took the name of Sister Mary
Adelaide. Twenty-two Sisters came from Rochester, Minn, with her and
from a community of 23 Sisters, this religious community in 23 years, now
numbers 299 professed Sisters ; 21 novices and 30 candidates.

The World War interfered with development of the 89 acres purchased
by the Rochester Sisters, who also gave $10,000 for the erection of a convent <
building. Temporary buildings were erected however and are still in use.
They are referred to as “Our War Barracks.” j

It was not until 1930 that the first permanent unit, now serving as a j
motherhouse and novitiate, was completed. It follows the Franciscan style of J
architecture, and is the first of a group of buildings proposed. |

i

WOMEN OF OHIO

539

From this Ohio center in its 23 years, convents have been established in
Youngstown, Ohio; in Detroit, and Wyandotte, Mich.; Minneapolis, Minn,
and Wells, Minn.; Superior, Wis. ; North Platte, Neb.; Brenham, Bryan and
Liberty in Texas.

This community owns and operates Providence Hospital in Sandusky,
which was once owned and conducted by the Sisters of Charity of St. Aug-
ustine in Cleveland. It also owns and operates the Gill Memorial Hospital
in Steubenville, Ohio; St. Francis Hospital, Hamtramck, Mich.; St. Mary's
Hospital, No. Platte, Nebr. ; St. Francis Hospital, Brenham, Texas; St. Joseph’s
Hospital, Bryan, Texas, and Mercy Hospital, Liberty, Texas.

One of its most interesting centers is its school for Mexican children
in the famous mission of San Juan Capistrano in California, which was founded
in 1776. It was from this mission center that Father Junipero Serra preached
Christianity to the Indians and in less than a century and a half later,
Franciscan Sisters, mostly Ohio born, went forth to preach the same message
to Mexican children.

This famed mission has come to be known also for a phenomenon of
nature, which occurs each March 19, the feast day of St. Joseph and each
Oct. 23, the feast day of St. John.

On March 19, regardless of Leap Year, the swallows come to take posses-
sion of the eaves and walls of this picturesque and historical mission center.
They depart, for places unknown, regularly on Oct. 23.

Chapin Hall, a California news writer, on the occasion of the 1939 arrival
of the swallows — described the arrival of the birds — and the great throngs
of people who have turned out to witness the impressive scene. He writes:
“Scientists have neA^er fathomed the mystery nor answered one of California’s
most intriguing problems. Nor can they explain how the birds know when
Leap Year rolls around, for then they shift their schedule by one day — always
arriving on March 19.”

In the diocese of Toledo, these Sisters teach in parish schools in Toledo,
Richfield Center, Rossford, Pt. Clinton, Fremont, Sandusky and others are
on the faculty of Central Catholic High School and of DeSales College, both
of which are administered by the diocese of Toledo. They teach in St. Casimir’s
school, Youngstown, of the Cleveland diocese.

It was primarily for teaching that these Sisters came to Ohio. The Ohio
foundress, Sister Adelaide, through schooling in this country and in Europe
was fitted for the educational program which her religious community was
to undertake.

She completed her college work in St. Therese’s College, Winona, Minn.,
after she had entered the convent and in 1911 received her B.A. degree from
that college, followed in 1914 by an M.A. degree from Columbia University.
Special courses in Harvard Summer School, the Minneapolis School of Fine
Arts and in European schools, were afforded her. This same principle of
thoroughly preparing the Sisters for their various tasks, is continued.

540

WOMEN OF OHIO

POOR SISTERS OF ST. FRANCIS SERAPH OF PERPETUAL ADORATION

Sister Leonarda and Sister Alexis, members of the religious society known
as The Poor Sisters of St. Francis Seraph of Perpetual Adoration, arrived in
Cleveland on July 16, 1884. They had come from Lafayette, Ind., the American
motherhouse of this religious community. Bishop Richard Oilmour, the second
bishop of the diocese of Cleveland, had invited them to come to Cleveland
to take charge of a hospital in the southeastern section of Cleveland.

These Sisters had come originally from Westphalia, Germany, where
this particular branch of the Franciscan order was founded in 1860 by Mary
Teresa Bonzel. The American branch was established in Lafayette, Ind.,
Dec. 14, 1875.

An eight room school house, awaited the Sisters on their arrival in
Cleveland and on July 17, the day after their arrival, the school was opened
for use as a hospital. It was the feast day of St. Alexis and the hospital thus
received his name. Sister Leonarda was named the superintendent, and she
is known today as its foundress.

It is the only institution conducted by these Sisters in Ohio, but through-
out the United States they own and operate 22 hospitals, teach in 47 schools;
staff three orphanages, one Home for the Aged, spread throughout nine States
— Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Tennessee, Missouri, Louisiana
and Colorado. They own and conduct their own college in Lafayette, Ind.
Among their members are many who hold degrees some of whom have degrees
of doctor of philosophy, and a number of their Sisters have had opportunities
for study in European schools.

When the golden jubilee of St. Alexis hospital was observed in 1934, so
much was written of Sister Leonarda that a stranger might be excused for
asking, “Well whose jubilee is this?”

Dr. George Crile, eminent member of the medical profession, and or-
ganizer of the famous Crile Clinic in Cleveland summed up Sister Leonarda ’s
connection with the hospital in these words, “Where Sister Leonarda was,
there was a hospital.”

“St. Alexis Hospital,” he said, “is a fitting memorial to a great woman,
who possessed great courage, vision, indomitable energy, broad sympathy
and with it all a saving grace of humor, which carried her through many a
difficult moment.”

Sister Leonarda frowned upon any praise for herself, but encouraged
doctors, nurses and hospital attaches to greater heights each day, in these
words which flowed so frequently from her lips, “Blessed be the day when
the setting sun sinks to peaceful rest finding kind acts done.”

Sister Leonarda and Sister Alexis arrived in Cleveland in true Franciscan
poverty — they had $2.00 as their combined resources. They depended upon
door to door begging and visits to the produce dealers in the business districts
for food for their patients.

WOMEN OF OHIO

541

They were known to be without food for themselves on many occasions.
To them it was most important that the sick be served.

Today St. Alexis Hospital with its 220 bed capacity sets aside 55 beds
for free care patients, carrying out a tradition which has been part of St.
Alexis from its inception in Ohio.

In the cornerstone of the first wing of the present hospital building
erected in 1897, a record placed therein contained the information that in the
thirteen years since its establishment, St. Alexis Hospital had given care to
8,195 patients and of this number only 288 had paid in full. In its fifty years
of service, the Golden Jubilee book revealed that 44,000 of the 75,000 patients,
were free patients.

The hospital today has a valuation for property and equipment of more
than three quarters of a million dollars. The last of three wings in the
present building was erected in 1925 and was named Leonarda Hall for
Sister Leonarda. A five story fire proof brick Home for Nurses is another
important improvement to the hospital.

Sister Leonarda won praise from many as being far in advance of the
times. She is credited with having preceded the present hospitalization in-
surance plan, by using that means in 1884 for raising funds with which to
carry on the hospital program. The American Steel and Wire Co., plant
nearby employed many workmen. On pay days, Sister Leonarda visited the
plant and stood at the gate, collecting 25 cents in dues. This assured free
hospitalization for contributors should they need it.

She is also credited by Dr. Myron Metzenbaum, Cleveland physician, as
having inspired the present accepted form of administering anaesthetics.
Necessity is the mother of invention, and it was the necessity of finding some
satisfactory way to subdue a refractory patient, who would not yield to the
old form of administering ether that today’s accepted procedure was dis-
covered. He became quite obstreperous. Sister Leonarda patiently worked
with him, until he finally agreed to return to the operating table. She con-
, ceived the plan of administering the ether, drop by drop, through a cone
shaped utensil. The patient finally succumbed to insensibility and the opera-
tion was performed. According to Dr. Metzenbaum, this experiment was
called to the attention of the American College of Surgeons and Drs. Charles
and William Mayo of the Mayo Clinic at Rochester, Minn., and Dr. John B.
i Murphy, Chicago, came to Cleveland to observe this new method of ad-
ministering ether. The experiment was further developed until today it is
| accepted in hospitals throughout the country.

FRANCISCAN SISTERS OF BLESSED KUNEGUNDE

A Polish immigrant girl, Josepha Dudzik, a native of Prussian Poland,
who came to Chicago in the latter part of the 19th century, founded another
1 Franciscan Order, whose members are engaged in teaching in Ohio. The

542

WOMEN OF OHIO

foundation was established in Chicago, Dec. 8, 1894, by Josepha and two
companions. Josepha was given the name of Sister Mary Theresa. The J
religious community today numbers 400 professed Sisters; ten novices and
nine postulants.

Their first work was to care for the poor and indigent and particularly i
the crippled and aged poor. In 1899 work among the orphans was begun in
Chicago and in 1901 the Sisters responded to the appeal for teachers in the !
Polish schools. Today some 150,000 children in 22 Catholic Polish parishes
in Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania and Illinois and in Washington, D. C. are ;
taught by these Sisters.

They came to St. Casimir’s parish, Cleveland in 1902; St. Stanislaus J
Parish, Youngstown in 1904; Sacred Heart Parish, Cleveland in 1905 and in
1936 a beautiful site was purchased in suburban East Cleveland, which is I
planned as the location for a Provincial house and House of Studies for |
Sisters in the Eastern area. The Sisters are prepared for teaching in their :
own convent schools and in Catholic University, Washington, D. C. ; Catholic |
Sisters College, Cleveland ; DePaul and Loyola Universities, Chicago, and
the American Conservatory of Music, Chicago.

SISTERS OF ST. FRANCIS OF CHRIST THE KINO

Another teaching order of Franciscans is that of the Sisters of St. Francis
of Christ the King. Only ten of these work in Ohio and teach in St. Christine’s
and Sts. Peter and Paul schools, Cleveland. Other schools are conducted by
them in the industrial centers of Indiana, Illinois and Pennsylvania. The
American motherhouse is at Kansas City and was founded there in 1909 to
meet the educational needs of the Slovenian and Croatian colonies. It dates
its origin to the year 1869 in Maribor, which at that time was under the
Austrian government.

CONGREGATION OF THE THIRD ORDER OF ST. FRANCIS OF MARY

IMMACULATE

Six cities in Ohio, Cleveland, Columbus, Shelby, Payne, Toledo and
Mansfield, share in the services of the Sisters of the Congregation of the Third
Order of St. Francis of Mary Immaculate. The motherhouse of this religious j
community is at Joliet, 111., established there in 1865. Sisters from Joliet
came to Toledo in 1870 to teach in St. Peter’s School and remained in Toledo
until 1878. It was not until 1931 that they returned to Toledo to staff
Immaculate Conception School. They accepted St. Peter’s School in Mans-
field, Ohio, in 1871 and have been in charge since of the elementary and
secondary schools. St. Mary’s grade and high school in Columbus was accepted
in 1875; St. Procop’s grade and high school, Cleveland in 1895; Holy Family
grade school, Cleveland in 1922, and Immaculate Conception school, Columbus
in 1922; Corpus Christi grade and high school, Columbus, 1929; Most Pure

WOMEN OF OHIO

543

Heart of Mary grade school, Shelby, 1932 ; and St. John the Baptist school,
Payne, Ohio in 1936.

Since 1930 three of the Sisters have been on the faculty of Central
Catholic High School in Toledo and in 1938 a fourth member was added to
the staff.

In 1931 these Sisters opened a private day and boarding school at Gran-
ville, Ohio, owned and operated by them. From 1879 until 1920, they taught
in St. Joseph’s and St. Patrick’s schools, Galion and for brief periods taught
also in St. Mary’s school, Delaware and St. Malachy’s school, Manchester.

POOR CLARE COLETTINES

The first permanent American foundation of Poor Clare Colettines was
established in Cleveland, Ohio, in December, 1877, when five Sisters came
from Harreveld, Holland. They had been exiled from Dusseldorf, Germany
during Bismarck’s historical kulturkamp. Their first abbess, Mother Ver-
onica, was the former Baroness von Elmendorf.

Bishop Richard Gilmour, third bishop of the diocese of Cleveland had
invited the Sisters to come to Cleveland, stating in his request that, “we
have Sisters engaged in, teaching the young ; nursing the sick ; caring for
the aged and looking after the orphans, but there is need for one more
community whose occupation it would be to pray, and thus to insure the
spiritual as well as the temporal welfare of the diocese.”

Two Franciscan Poor Clares had come to Cleveland in 1875 from the
monastery of San Lorenzo-in-Panisperna in Rome. These Sisters were living
in accordance with a religious rule that had been modified considerably, since
the beginning of the Poor Clares in 1221 as founded by St. Francis of Assisi.
The Franciscan rule that governed the Poor Ladies of St. Francis, in the
fervor of the early days of the Franciscan movement was marked by great
austerity and severity.

St. Colette who was born in Picardy, France, in 1380, was living the life
of a recluse and sought in vain for a religious community that followed the
severity of the original Poor Clare rule. She was directed to reform the
order of Poor Clares and to restore the original rule. This she did in the
early part of the fifteenth century, and it is this rule, the original as practiced
by St. Clare, that governs all monasteries of Poor Clare Colettines. The name
Colettines distinguishes the Poor Clares of this rule from the Franciscan
Poor Clares who follow the revised rule.

The two Italian Poor Clares were directed to come to America by Pope
Pius IX, who in his concern for the growth of the Church in America, stated,
“The want of the American Church is religious orders of prayer. America
is a young country ; she has passed her infancy and is now in her youth, but
before she arrives at maturity one thing is necessary — the extension of con-
templative orders, without which she will never reach perfection.”

544

WOMEN OF OHIO

The two Poor Clares of the Franciscan rule, were Italian countesses.
They were sisters and were known as Sister Maria Madalena Bentivoglio and
Sister Maria Costanza Bentivoglio. They tried to adjust themselves to the
more severe rule of the Poor Clare Colettines and this, together with the
difference in language, proved a difficult task, although not an unsurmountable
one. An offer from Mr. and Mrs. John Creighton of Omaha, Nebr., to establish
a monastery in Omaha, accompanied by an invitation from the ecclesiastical
authorities of Omaha, prompted the Italian Poor Clare to accept the invita-
tion and in 1878 they left Cleveland for Omaha.

The Poor Clare Colettine rule calls for extreme poverty, strict observance
of perpetual fast and abstinence, the midnight recital of the Divine Office,
and complete isolation from the world.

Their artistic work with pen and brush occupies part of their time and
provides an income for the bare necessities of living. There is Perpetual
Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in the convent chapel.

Despite the severity of the rule, the Cleveland community prospered and
from this monastery, three other foundations were established, one in Chicago
in 1893; another in Rockford, 111., in 1916 and the third in Oakland, Cal., in
1921.

Today there are 32 professed Sisters in the Cleveland monastery ; four j
novices and four postulants.

FRANCISCAN MISSIONARIES OF MARY

One Franciscan religious community whose members are few in Ohio, but
whose memories of their foundress are innumerable and whose traditions fori
service and growth, seem to be a part of a prophecy, is known as the “Fran-
ciscan Missionaries of Mary. ” There are just eleven Sisters, one postulant
and one novice at work in Ohio. They live at St. Anthony’s convent, 1113
Budd St., Cincinnati and six of them do social work among the negroes.
Five teach in St. Anthony’s School.

They have been in Ohio only since 1930 and in America since 1904. When!
this community was founded in France in 1877, a French cure said to the!
foundress, Helen de Chappotin, who in religion became known as Mother
Mary of the Passion, “do not be discouraged; your Institute will be like an
oak, a long time in taking root, but it will become eventually a great tree]
which will see the centuries go by, will extend afar its branches and cover!
the earth.”

Today its members are to be found in every country of the world. Pope
Pius IX commissioned Helen de Chappotin to found a religious community
which would be known as the “Missionaries of Mary.”

Mother Mary of the Passion drafted the religious rule which she basec
upon the example of the life of Christ. Into the rule she wrote : * ‘ Poverty
is to be their lot, since the Divine Model was born in a stable ; obedience and

WOMEN OF OHIO

545

suffering their choice, since the Master was obedient even to the death of
the Cross; charity their treasurer, since their Heavenly Spous finds therein
His glory and delight.”

Seven of their Sisters suffered martyrdom for their faith. They were
cruelly put to death during the Boxer rebellion in China in 1900. This did not
deter others from following in their footsteps. Four years later, another
band of missionaries went forth to China, with these words of Pope Pius X
ringing in their ears, “You are going then to take up the post which your
martyred sisters held. The Catholic Church alone can give to women the
courage to aspire even unto death.”

According to a religious publication, published in Rome under a 1939
date line, it is said of these Sisters: “They are to be found in many parts
of China today doing valiant work despite bombardments and vicissitudes of
war. They are going about giving material and spiritual comfort to women
and children, the aged and the sick, and paying no heed to the alarms of
sirens, the menace of fire and the smoking ruins about them.”

The Franciscan Missionaries of Mary is one of three religious com-
munities in Ohio, whose origin and whose encouragement for extension of
service into other lands, may be traced to Pope Pius IX whose pontificate
was the longest and perhaps the most turbulent in the entire history of the
Church. He reigned as Pope from June 16, 1846 until his death, Dec. 17,
1878. The Poor Clares and the Sisters of the Third Franciscan Order, Minor
Conventual, were directed to come to America by Pope Pius.

Ohio is further indebted to him for the establishment of two dioceses in
Ohio during his pontificate, Cleveland in 1847 and Columbus in 1868. During
his pontificate he established 45 new dioceses in America. He further ex-
pressed his concern for America in naming the first American cardinal,
Archbishop John McCloskey of New York. Archbishop James Roosevelt
Bayley, one of the ancestry in President Roosevelt’s family, was delegated
by the Pope to represent him at the investitute ceremonies for Cardinal Mc-
Closkey, which took place in New York, April 27, 1875.

Ohio has another reason to recall the memory of Pope Pius IX for what
| is believed to be the first Papal honor to be conferred upon an American
j woman. Ellen Ewing Sherman, Ohio born and wife of Civil War General
William Tecumseh Sherman, was the recipient of a gold rosary, with a relic
| of the True Cross enclosed within the crucifix of the rosary, and also an
; autographed copy of Healy’s painting of Pope Pius. This award was con-
j ferred in 1877 and was in recognition of her work in personally directing
! American Catholics’ tribute to the Pope in observance of his golden jubilee
as a priest.

She was selected to do this by Archbishop Bayley, then ranking member
) of the Catholic hierarchy in America. With this authority she conducted
her campaign throughout America. It was a laity-inspired testimonial to the

546

WOMEN OF OHIO

self imposed imprisoned pope of the Vatican, and was world wide in its
scope. Ellen Sherman directed America’s part alone.

It was Pope Pius IX who gave to Sarah Peters, an Ohio born woman, a
letter of introduction to the many religious communities of the European
continent, and which made it possible for her to obtain the consent of four
religious communities of women to establish foundations in Cincinnati, namely !\
Sisters of Mercy from Ireland ; Little Sisters of the Poor from France ; Sisters
of the Poor of St. Francis, from Germany and the Sisters of Good Shepherd,
originally from France, but whose Ohio foundation was instituted by Sisters
from the Covington, Ky., convent.

Another evidence of Pope Pius IX ’s interest in the Americas — north and
south — was the establishment in Rome of two colleges at his own expense — *
one known as the Latin American college and the other the North American
college. These colleges are expressly for students for the priesthood from ]
North and South America respectively. The sons of many Ohio-born mothers
have received their education for the priesthood in this North American col- Ij
lege. One Ohio boy, the present Archbishop Edward Mooney, archbishop of
Detroit, whose early education was received from the Ursuline Nuns of
Youngstown, Ohio, served as spiritual director of this college.

Pope Pius’ pontificate was marked by an unprecedented number of beati-
fications and canonizations and for the development of the inner life of the j
Church by many liturgical regulations and by various monastic reforms. |j

SISTERS OF THE THIRD FRANCISCAN ORDER, MINOR CONVENTUAL j

Another Franciscan Order which owes its foundation in America to Pope
Pius IX is that of the Sisters of the Third Franciscan Order, Minor Con-
ventual. The first American foundation was established in Philadelphia, Pa.,
in 1855 by Bishop John Nepomucene Neumann, at the personal request of
Pope Pius IX.

Bishop Neumann was a Bavarian immigrant, who had volunteered for j
work in the missions fields of America. Pope Pius had named Bishop Neumann
bishop of the diocese of Philadelphia and this order of Franciscans was one
of many which Bishop Neumann introduced into the diocese, in his desire j j
to extend the program of the Catholic Church.

From Philadelphia some members volunteered for school and hospital j
work in the dioceses of Syracuse and Utica, and it was from these missions j
that the Syracuse, N. Y., motherhouse was founded in 1860.

Members from the Syracuse foundation teach only in one school in Ohio,
that of St. Anthony’s parish, Lorain, but Ohio has given many of her daughters
to the Syracuse religious community, several of whom are known to be
engaged in work in the Leper colony at Molokai, one of the missions of the
Syracuse foundation.

WOMEN OF OHIO

547

Two Cleveland, Ohio women, Sister Mary Joseph, formerly Mary Cutler
and Sister Marie Celine, formerly Florence Wagner, were until recently,
engaged in the Kapiolani home in Honolulu. This home was established by
Mother Marianne, who fifty years ago, with a small company of Sisters set
out for Molokai to work among the lepers, and to leave a convent home, dear
to them, and which they were never to see again. The home was to care for
the children of leprous parents, it being her theory that the children of leprous
parents do not inherit the disease and that being immune from it and removed
from Molokai, the children, with proper care, can be reared to a normal,
healthy, happy and useful life. Fifty years of observations and study and
pioneering in work among the lepers have resulted in another advanced
step — that of providing private home care for such children. With the launch-
ing of the private home care for children of leprous parents in October, 1938,
the government closed the Kapiolani home. The services of the Sisters how-
I ever were not dispensed with, as a new government project, the Territorial
Hospital for Lepers in Molokai was entrusted to the care of the Sisters. A
month before in September, 1938, these Sisters were commissioned by the
Hawaiian Homes Commission of Kawananakoa Hall in Hilo, T. H., to take
j charge of a kindergarten which had been established for children of home-
f steaders between the ages of three and six years.

The Bishop Home for women and girls afflicted with leprosy and located
| at Kalaupapa, Molokai, has been the special work of these Franciscan Sisters
j since the time, more than 50 years ago, when they answered the appeal of
I Father Damien, the hero of the Leper colony, to come to Molokai to work
j among the lepers, and thus in true Franciscan manner, “serve God in the
least of His creatures” — the homeless, forsaken and despised lepers.

Sister Celine Wagner of Cleveland, Ohio, is now stationed at the Bishop
I Home, after 10 years service at the Kapiolani home. Sister Mary Joseph
j Cutler, also of Cleveland, is at St. Francis hospital at Honolulu, the only
I Catholic hospital in Hawaii. This hospital has attached to it a training school
for nurses, which is affiliated with St. Louis University.

FRANCISCAN NUNS OF THE MOST BLESSED SACRAMENT

The first American foundation of the Franciscan Nuns of the Most Blessed
t Sacrament had its beginning in Cleveland, Ohio in 1922 on a site now owned
I by Western Reserve University. At the time of its organization, the property
I was owned by the Diocese of Cleveland, and had been purchased as a possible
! site for a cathedral. These Sisters are now housed in a convent attached to
! the beautiful St. Paul’s Shrine, once St. Paul’s Episcopal church, located at
I Euclid and 40th St., Cleveland.

Mother Mary Agnes of Vienna, in which city this religious community
j found shelter following Bismarck’s kulturkamp, accompanied bv Mother Mary
I Cyrill a came to Cleveland upon the invitation of Archbishop-Bishop Joseph

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WOMEN OF OHIO

Schrembs, bishop of the diocese of Cleveland to found what he called a
“ powerhouse of prayer.”

Pere Bonaventure, a Capuchin monk of Troyes, France inspired the found-
ing of this community in France in 1854. Mademoiselle Josephine Bouille-
veaux and three companions formed the first company of Sisters for this new
religious community of contemplative sisters. They pledged themselves to
spend eight hours of their day in prayer ; eight hours in good works and eight
hours in rest.

According to their rule they are obliged to spend their lives in the imme- ||
diate service of the Lord and to foster a devotion to Him, through public and
private retreats, and Eucharistic confraternities, that will attract the laity ]
who live in the world beyond the convent cloister.

They devote themselves to the liberal and aesthetic arts as well as domes-
tic duties and throughout the night and day, continuous chanting and praying
is conducted in the convent chapel. The Sisters in relays spend their time in
chapel.

Michael Williams, one of America’s outstanding Catholic laymen, in a
recent publication, “The Catholic Church in Action,” writes of the contem- 1
plative nuns as a group of experts in the spiritual science of prayer, drawing
down the grace of God for the enlightening and the energizing of His workers
and His people.

The first American foundation in Cleveland has extended itself into
India and in 1937 three members from the Cleveland community began a
foundation in Bengal.

When this religious community was established in Cleveland in 1922, ll
Archbishop Schrembs named the Ladies Catholic Benevolent Society as its
sponsor, and since that time Cleveland members of this large fraternal society,
the first of its kind to be established in America, have been active in promoting
interest in the work of these Sisters.

In 1937 members of this society contributed jewels, many of them family
keepsakes, for a gold crown to adorn the statue of Our Lady of Consolation, i 1
which graces a chapel in St. Paul’s shrine. This group sponsors also the col-
lection of staple foods and canned goods each Nov. 1 on the feast of All Saints,
as a means of providing for the material needs of the Sisters.

Exquisite art work, embroidery, painting by the Sisters, provide a source i
of income.

FRANCISCAN SISTERS OF ST. JOSEPH
Still another Franciscan religious community, known as the Franciscan
Sisters of St. Joseph are engaged in Ohio, exclusively as a teaching order.
It came into being July 1, 1901 and opened its first school in Ohio, St. Hya-
cinth’s, Cleveland, in 1908.

It was founded to meet the educational needs of the constantly increasing
Polish colonies, and was a foundation from the German Sisters of St. Francis, |

WOMEN OF OHIO

549

whose motherhouse is at Wilwaukee, Wis. A company of 46 members of this
community, who were of Polish ancestry, established their own separate corn-
unity at Stevens Point, Wis., with the permission of ecclesiastical authorities.
These Sisters follow the rule of St. Francis of Assisi.

While they work exclusively among Polish children, and include in the
school curricula such studies as will perpetuate pride and affection in the
accomplishments and cultural treasures of the Polish people, the approved
standards of education in the respective diocese and states, wherein they
teach, are conscientiously encouraged.

From the first school in Ohio in 1908, they now teach in 12 parish schools
in the Cleveland diocese and have other parish schools in Kalamazoo and
Detroit, Mich., in New Bristol, Suffield, Wallington and Terry ville, in Con-
necticut.

Twenty-five acres of land were purchased in 1925 in Garfield Heights, a
suburb of Cleveland, and a convent and girls’ academy was erected.

The convent is now the provincial house for Sisters who serve in the
eastern and north-central States. The academy ranks as a Class A high school
by the State Department of Education and it holds membership in the North
Central Association of Colleges and Secondary schools, which insures accept-
ance of the credits by every college in the United States. All faculty members
of the academy hold degrees from recognized colleges and universities. The
teaching staff includes well qualified instructors in physical education, home-
j making, music, and art. The Sisters encourage higher education for their
I students by providing scholarships for those of marked ability.

SISTERS OF ST. JOSEPH

A religious community which had its beginning in Bourg, France in 1650
j and whose convents were closed and their members dispersed during the
1 French Revolution, resumed its program following the Revolution and later
extended its work to America. Ohio has two separate communities of these
Sisters of St. Joseph, each independent of the other, but each group is loyal
to the traditions handed down through three centuries of service.

Jeanne Marie Fontbonne, known in religion as Venerable Mother St. John
| is credited with having restored the religious community of the Sisters of
! St. Joseph after the fury of the Revolution had abated. This was in 1807.
j She had been imprisoned during the Revolution and was sentenced to death.

| She escaped death, but many of her Sisters suffered death by the guillotine.

The first purpose was to perform works of charity in the world, particu-
J larly among the orphans, but with the restoration of the order in 1807 their
| program of service was broadened and their fields of endeavor extended from
| France into Italy, England, Russia, Denmark and Sweden, and even to far
| away India and the Argentine.

550

WOMEN OF OHIO

America welcomed them in 1836, when they came to St. Louis to work
among the Indians principally. Bishop Joseph Rosati of St. Louis invited them
to come, and made a special request for Sisters who could teach the sign
language. Two of these were trained in France for this special work. They
were established in a convent in Carondelet, Mo. From this first American
foundation, another convent was established in St. Paul in 1851 and it was
from the St. Paul convent that three Sisters came to Painesville, Ohio in 1872,
to establish an Ohio foundation. Six months after they had opened the
Painesville convent, they received two members into their novitiate. One
of their early novices was Mother Evangelista, who later served as superior.
She entered the convent in Painesville.

She had passed her 70th year in 1928 when the influenza epidemic struck
Youngstown, Ohio, where she served as principal of St. Patrick’s school.
Hospitals were unable to care for the many who were sick and dying. Schools j
and other public buildings were transformed into emergency hospitals and
an S. 0. S. call went out from city health authorities for nursing help.

Mother Evangelista received a call. She relayed it to her Sisters, instruct- •
ing them that not one was obliged by obedience to go, because the danger was
great, and their service consequently must be voluntary.

The entire faculty volunteered. When they were ready to depart for the 1
emergency hospital, they found Mother Evangelista ready also, to head her
company of 16 volunteer nurses. The Sisters protested her participation,
because of her age and because of her frail health. “I have but one life to
give,” she answered them, “and I give that willingly, if it is God’s will, in
service to my fellow citizens.” She remained on duty in the emergency hos- j
pital throughout the entire period of the epidemic.

The motherhouse of this community was moved to Cleveland in 1877 and
continual growth in membership and in expansion of their educational pro- !
gram necessitated many changes of residences. Their present site is located
on the east side of Rocky River, in a suburb of Cleveland, known as West
Park.

The sisters conduct an academy here with an enrollment of 400 students
and also conduct St. Therese’s academy in Lakewood with a school enrollment |
of 100 and a music department with an enrollment of 300 pupils. Both acad-
emies are accredited by the State Department of Education and are affiliated
with the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. They
teach in 26 parish schools within the diocese of Cleveland.

The second religious Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph was founded :
in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1893, when four Sisters, Mother Marie, Sisters St. Rose,
Nativity and Veronica, came from the New Orleans convent. The New Orleans;
convent was established in 1855 by Father Buteux, a French missionary priest,
engaged in mission work in Louisiana. He sent to France for Sisters to come
to New Orleans, “who would gain and guard for God, souls of children, desti-

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551

tute of religion.’ ’ Originally organized as an educational Institute, circum-
stances of the Cincinnati mission necessitated launching into an entirely
different type of work, which has met with more than usual success.

Margaret McCabe, a very pious and charitable woman of Cincinnati
had opened a home for working girls in Cincinnati. She provided for it from
her own funds, so as to provide a moderate rate for the working girls. While
many of the girls were religiously inclined, there was no strict religious rule
in the home. Some of these desired to devote their life to religion and sought
permission of ecclesiastical authorities to do so. The Sisters of St. Joseph
were invited to come from New Orleans to establish a novitiate and to train
these aspirants for the religious life. The home under Miss McCabe was
known as Sacred Heart home. With the home now in charge of the Sisters of
St. Joseph, Miss McCabe directed her efforts towards the establishment of a
similar service to working boys, particularly homeless news boys. The Fen-
wick Club of Cincinnati is the development of this plan of Miss McCabe and
I the present Fontbonne home for girls, conducted by the Sisters of St. Joseph,
is the development of Miss McCabe ’s dream.

The Fontbonne home was named by Archbishop McNicholas in 1925,
when the present home at McAllister and Lawrence Sts., was dedicated. It is
named to honor Jeanne Marie Fontbonne, who restored the French religious
congregation. It accommodates 250 girls and women, Catholics and non-
| Catholics. The Sisters continue to operate it under the plan originally adopted
by Miss McCabe — to provide homelike atmosphere at moderate rates.

DAUGHTERS OF THE DIVINE REDEEMER
Ohio and Pennsylvania’s vast industrial and mining regions attracted
j many European colonies to America’s shores in the early part of the 20th
| century. As these colonists arrived, many accompanied by priests of their
respective nationalities, the Catholic Church through the Bishops endeavored
to found parishes, where these strangers in a strange land could have the
comforts of their Catholic faith. The children necessitated schools and a staff
j of teachers acquainted with the system of education in America, as well as
teachers who had the background of the various nationalities. European
I convents sent their Sisters. Among the religious communities to do so were
the Daughters of the Divine Redeemer from Sofron, Germany. Four Sisters
arrived in McKeesport in 1912. Ohio welcomed the first of these in 1921 to
j staff St. Stephen’s school. Toledo, where they remained for six years. In 1922
St. Emeric’s school, Cleveland, was founded; in 1926, St. Anthony’s school,
Fairport Harbor; in 1927 St. Ladislasu school, Lorain and in 1930 St. Mar-
garet ’s school, Cleveland. There are at present 30 of these Sisters serving
| the four schools in Ohio, established for children of Hungarian parentage.

Upon the occasion of the silver jubilee of the establishment of these works
in America, in 1937, Archbishop Joseph Schrembs of Cleveland paid tribute
| to the work of the Sisters in the diocese of Cleveland: “I have found the

!

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WOMEN OF OHIO

work of your Sisters in the Diocese of Cleveland constructive and inspiring.
Your willingness and ability to meet all the requirements of our school system
is greatly appreciated,” he said.

RELIGIOUS OF THE SACRED HEART

Religious of the Sacred Heart in charge of Clifton College, located on
one of Cincinnati’s loveliest hills overlooking the Miami valley, came to Cin-
cinnati in 1869. Archbishop Purcell, second Bishop of the diocese of Cin-
cinnati, had appealed to the foundress, Madame Sophie Barat, in a personal
visit to the motherhouse in Amiens, France, for Sisters to establish a school
of higher education for women in his diocese. Madame Barat had promised
him to send Sisters as soon as possible. That was in 1838. Requests from
other Bishops in America had preceded Archbishop Purcell’s, so that it was
not until 1869 that Madame Barat ’s successor, Mother Goetz, complied with
the Archbishop’s request. Four choir religious and three Lay Sisters came j
to Cincinnati with Mother Ellen Hogan as superior.

The Religious of the Sacred Heart are principally a teaching order. They
have their own distinctive system of education. This system has been summed
up in these words — 11 giving values and giving anchorage. The individual
and the individual training is everything ; and all converges to this, to give
personal worth to each student, worth of character, strength of principle and
anchorage of faith.”

The first academy for these Sisters in Ohio was located on Sixth St., near
Stone; later they moved to Echo Place on Grandin Rd., in 1874 and in 1876,
the present site in Clifton was purchased.

From the very beginning, the school curricula, which included two years
beyond the regular academic course, attracted the daughters of prominent
families from Cincinnati and nearby points. In the first graduating class
of 1874, Lyda Johnson, daughter of Cincinnati’s then mayor, was among the
number.

Clifton school is now a fully accredited college and is staffed by members
of this religious community who have been given every educational advan-
tage and whose scholarship is enriched by their close and constant contacts |
with their 7000 Sisters in their various schools and colleges throughout the \
world. The most recent foundations of this Religious community is at Oxford
in England and Brussels in Belgium.

- ■

LADIES OF THE SACRED HEART OF MARY

Bishop Amadeus Rappe once of France, and the first bishop of the diocese
of Cleveland, extended the invitation to the Ladies of the Sacred Heart of
Mary to come to Ohio, to assist him in the care of the orphans of the diocese.
Ohio had suffered much from victims of ship fever, who after long sea voyages
arrived in Ohio, many near death, and many more dying upon their arrival.
Children of these unfortunates, in a strange land and among strangers, were ;

WOMEN OF OHIO

553

homeless. In 1851 the Misses Pance, Ferce and Blehan came from France.
They arrived in October and the following Christmas day they opened a small
house on St. Clair St., near Sixth which was given to them by Bishop Rappe,
and thus began their first orphanage for girls.

Two years later, a site on Harmon St., now Woodland Ave., was purchased
and a three story brick house was built. Miss Pance had inherited a consider-
able sum of money from her family, and used this inheritance to build the
first unit of the present St. Joseph’s orphanage for Girls.

Rev. Louis DeGoesbriand, one of the early missionaries in Ohio, in his
reminiscences of the early days of Catholicity in the Diocese of Cleveland
wrote for the official archives this reference to Miss Pance: “ Among the
benefactors of the Diocese of Cleveland, there is one whose name I have for-
gotten. The person I refer to was a lady from Paris, who, knowing that
there were many orphans in Cleveland to be provided for, volunteered to
come in 1851 and consecrated her fortune to the building of an orphan
asylum. With her came two devoted companions, one of whom was Miss
Ferce, who was well known in Cleveland. The building on Harmon St. was
erected at the expense of the benefactress I allude to, but she died before it
was ready for occupation. Her coming to Cleveland was providential at a
time when so many immigrants were carried away by ship fever or cholera,
leaving their children unprovided for.”

Additional property and additional buildings have been added since 1893,
until today the orphanage has a capacity for more than 200 girls ranging in
ages from five to 16 years.

Despite the age of the buildings, the system of training and care is
modern and according to accepted standards of welfare authorities. There
is a staff of 50 in charge.

The first orphanage, known as St. Mary’s, was transferred to a site on
E. 20th St., and continued as a shelter for the older girls until 1894, when
they were transferred to St. Joseph’s orphanage and St. Mary’s site was
used for a working girls home. Change in neighborhood necessitated the
abandonment of the girls home project and the site was sold. Later a site in
a residential district was selected and Madonna Hall, a residence home for
business and professional women, was established at 1906 E. 82nd St.

The Ladies of the Sacred Heart in both the orphanage and Madonna Hall
live a community life and follow a religious rule. Its members however wear
no religious habit but dress in quiet secular garb.

MISSIONARY SISTERS OF THE PIOLY GHOST

A native of Petrograd, Russia, founded the Missionary Sisters of the Holy
Ghost in Palambaro, Italy in 1890. She was Mother M. Josephine Finatowicz,
a member of the Russian Schismatic church. She became a convert to the
Catholic Church when 13 years of age.

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WOMEN OF OHIO

Pope Leo XIII directed her to come to America to found a religious com-
munity for the purpose of praying for the Unity of the Catholic Church. In
1913 she sent her co-foundress, Mother M. Anthony, and Sister M. Aloysius to
found the American foundation in Donora, Pa.

Three came to Cleveland in 1929 upon the invitation of Archbishop-
Bishop Schrembs to engage in missionary work and to establish a novitiate
at 12209 Corlett Ave., Cleveland. They received their education in Notre Dame
academy, Cleveland, and in Catholic Sisters College. There are only 13 mem-
bers in the Ohio foundation at present. In addition to their mission work in
Cleveland, the Sisters have charge of the domestic work at Cathedral Latin
Boys’ school in charge of the Brothers of Mary.

DAUGHTERS OF DIVINE CHARITY

Daughters of Divine Charity who teach in St. Stephen’s school, Toledo,
Ohio, date the founding of their religious community to the year 1868 in
Vienna, Austria. Their foundress, Franciska Lechner, was born in Edling,
Germany in the year 1833.

The American foundation was established in New York in 1913, when
two Sisters came from Budapest, Hungary. They founded a working girls
home in New York. The provincial house for all the American convents of
this religious community is located at St. Joseph’s Hill, Arrochar, Staten
Island, N. Y. Sister M. Margaret Gergely, who was superior of St. Stephen’s
convent, Toledo, for eight years until 1938, is the provincial superior, having
been elected to this high office at the general chapter meeting held in Wien,
Germany in the summer of 1938.

Stationed at St. Stephen’s convent in Toledo is Sister Mary Wittman,
who saw service on the battlefields of Germany during the World War.

THE CARMELITE ORDER

The Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel is a strictly
cloistered order which came into Ohio in 1923 upon invitation of Archbishop
Joseph Schrembs. Members of this order are more familiarly known as Car-
melites. Six Sisters came from the St. Louis Monastery, two of these were
Ohio born women, Sister Anna Michael and Sister Winifred, daughters of
Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Boyle of Cincinnati, benefactors of the Church in Cin-
cinnati in the early days. Sister Winifred had been blind since infancy. Both
sisters died in 1937 within a few weeks of each other. They had spent close
to fifty years in the convent.

The St. Louis monastery was the first foundation from the first American
Foundation established in America in 1790 and now located in Baltimore.
Only recently the first convent site at Port Tobacco, Charles County, Md.,
has been rediscovered and is now being renovated for preservation as a relic
of historical interest.

WOMEN OF OHIO

555

The Sisters follow a rule which was adopted by St. Teresa of Avila, who
made her religious vows in the Carmelite order in 1536. It was a somewhat
mitigated rule from that which governed the original Carmelite order and
which was patterned after one adopted by St. Elias, nine centuries before
the birth of Christ, but is a much stricter rule than was in effect in the
Carmelite order when Teresa of Avila became a member.

Their religious life is consecrated to poverty, obedience, profound retreat
and silence. Their clothing, nourishment, language and customs emphasize
the sequestered spirit. Their beds are hard and poor; their sleep brief; the
first watches of the night are consecrated to the chanting or recitation of
prayers. The day is divided between the recitation of the Divine Office, a
prescribed form of prayer ; assistance at Mass, pra^^er and manual labor.
The solitude is profound ; the silence almost continual and the time accorded
to innocent or pious conversation is called recreation. The Nuns in their
cloister observe perpetual abstinence from meat as an act of mortification ; and
for them the Lenten fast begins on Sept. 14, observed in the Catholic Church
calendar as the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, and continues until
Easter Sunday.

A Carmelite nun explains this as, “the spirit of Carmel, which is above
all, one of universal crucifixion of the senses, interior as well as exterior,
joined to the spirit of recollection, solitude and separation from creatures ;
and it is only by this continual mortification of nature that the true Car-
melite, after having purified herself from her past sins by penance and from
her evil inclinations by abnegation, becomes capable of interceding for those
who intrust to her the interests and intentions for which they desire prayers. ”

St. Therese of Lisieux, canonized a saint by Pope Pius XI in 1925, and
known the world over as “The Little Flower of Jesus” was a Carmelite Nun,
and her intercession is constantly sought by her Carmel Sisters in Ohio, for
the intentions of the many friends of Carmel.

SOCIAL MISSION SISTERS OF THE HOLY GHOST

Sister Hildegarde, who won a decoration from the Austrian government
I in 1918 for humanitarian service in the World War, founded a religious
| community in Cleveland, Ohio in 1923. It was at the invitation of Archbishop
Joseph Schrembs that she came to Cleveland from her native Austria, to
do home mission work in the largely populated districts of Cleveland.

Sister Hildegarde is the daughter of Count Albert Alberti-Enno and
j Baroness Angelique Wittenbach of Gratz, Austria. As a volunteer worker
in Austria, she succeeded in reclaiming to the Church, many who had fallen
away and it was her success in this that suggested the forming of a religious
community. The members of this community wear secular garb. Their work
is educational and social service. Their members have received their social
training in the National Catholic School of Social Service, Washington, D. C.

556

WOMEN OF OHIO

They are assisted in their work by a Social Mission Sisters Guild com-
posed of 600 men and women ; a lay Apostolate group composed of 100 high
school and college girls, who are instructed in methods of mission work and
conduct also a Junior Catholic Action School, for 70 high school girls.

HOLY CROSS ORDER

The Sisters of the Holy Cross, founded in LeMans, France in 1841, have
been known to Ohio since 1881 when they came to take charge of St. Vin-
cent’s school, Akron, to continue there until 1885. A year later, in 1886, they
came to Columbus, Ohio to take charge of Mount Carmel Hospital, and their
next Ohio charge was in 1931, when St. Catherine’s School at Bexley, Ohio,
was placed in their charge.

Eliza Maria Gillespie was 29 years of age when, on March 19, 1853, she
was clothed in the religious habit of a Sister of the Holy Cross. Eliza had
lived in Lancaster, Ohio since 1838, with the Thomas Ewing family, follow-
ing the death of her father. During these years the famine in Ireland, the
cholera in Ohio enlisted her attention, and with the aid of a magazine story
which she had published, and the proceeds from her tapestry, she was able
to secure large sums of money to send to Ireland. During the cholera epidemic
in Ohio she nursed the sick and helped in the care of destitute orphaned
children.

It was Eliza Maria Gillespie, known in religion as Mother Angela, then
superior of the Holy Cross order, who introduced this order into Ohio. She
sent the Sisters to St. Vincent’s school in Akron and later accompanied seven
Sisters to open Mount Carmel hospital in Columbus, in 1886. The hospital
had been founded a year before by Dr. W. B. Hawkes of the Board of Trustees
of the Columbus Medical College. Sister Lydia Crawford, who had seen
service in the Spanish- American War and in the Civil War, was placed in
charge. Fourteen Holy Cross Sisters served in the Spanish-American War
and 66 of them served in the Civil War. Two of them, Sister Fidelis and
Sister Elise, died in the service. Mother Angela was among this number of
66. The archives at St. Mary’s Ind., where the motherhouse of the Holy
Cross Order of Nuns is located, is filled with many letters, which tell vividly
and graphically, stories of the great courage and heroism of these nuns,
during this distressing period of American history.

It was a well qualified staff of nursing sisters who came to Mount
Carmel Hospital. A school of Nursing was established in connection with
the hospital in 1903.

Their beginning in Columbus was extremely humble. Trunks served as
chairs in the Sisters’ quarters; the bare floor served as beds, and the Nuns’
shawls were their bed covering. The Sisters of the Good Shepherd came to
their aid, and supplied bedding and food.

Two additions have been added to the original hospital, one in 1887
and another in 1904 ; the chapel was built in 1908 and the Nurses’ home in 1919.

WOMEN OF OHIO

00 i

Mother Angela was one of the first of her religious community to write
for publication. Many others have followed in her footsteps. Even in her
day, she traveled frequently to Europe, gathering works of art, tapestries,
sculpture, and these occupy prominent places in the convent and in the
college of St. Mary’s.

The waitings of two members are well known in Ohio and are to be
found on the shelves of many of the public libraries of Ohio. They are the
writings of Mother Madeleva, president of St. Mary’s College, and Sister
Eleanore. Five of their Sisters have published musical selections ; twelve of
their number have had their paintings accepted for exhibition. Their com-
munity today is composed of 1,192 professed Sisters; 61 novices; 16 postulants
and 18 juniorates.

SISTERS OF THE HOLY FAMILY OF NAZARETH

Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth, who teach in three parish schools
in Ohio, were among the first to come to America to undertake work among
the Polish immigrants. It was Pope Pius IX who encouraged many other
religious communities to come to America and some of these to work in Ohio,
who sanctioned the foundation of this particular community in 1873. The
motherhouse still remains in Rome, but its convents are in the capital cities
of Italy, France, England, the United States and in Poland.

Chicago was the first city in America to welcome this religious com-
munity and in 1885 the foundress Mother Frances Siedliska and 11 com-
panions established in that city, her first American convent. Of its present
membership of 2,250 nuns, more than 1,600 are in America.

St. Stanislaus school in Cleveland, once the largest Polish school in the
United States, has been in their charge since 1907. They came to Ohio first
in 1906 to staff St. Adalbert’s school at Dillonvale, Ohio and in 1919, they
were placed in charge of Our Lady of Czestochwa School, Cleveland, Ohio.

The higher education of the Sisters is pursued in many of the Catholic
colleges and universities of America and in the Sorbonne, in Paris ; Oxford,
in England; the University of Warsaw, and the Jagiellonian University of
1 Poland.

Annually, about seven of the Sisters, including some of those teaching
in Ohio, are sent as scholarship students to Poland for one scholastic course.

GREY NUNS OF CHARITY OF MONTREAL

“Sisters of Charity” is the more familiar name for the Grey Nuns of

! Charity of Montreal, whose history dates back to the year 1738 and whose
i record of service in Ohio dates back to the year 1855, when a small number
came to Toledo to establish St. Vincent’s Orphanage. In 1876, another group
from Montreal came to take charge of St. Vincent’s Hospital, Toledo.

Marie Marguerite De Frost de la Jemmerais, born in 1701, married to
Francois Madeleine d’Youville in 1722, was widowed in 1730. She conducted

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WOMEN OF OHIO

a small store to raise funds with which to support her two sons and out of
her poverty found enough to extend hospitality to the aged poor of her
neighborhood. In 1738, three companions, attracted by her great charity and
her great love for the poor, joined with her and on Oct. 30, 1739 together
they made their act of consecration as servants of suffering humanity.

The “Annales” of the community record this scene, “Madame d’Youville
did not falter while reciting the act of consecration, but her companions
could not control their emotion. Mile. Demers succeeded in stifling her sobs,
but Miles. Cusson and Thaumur de la Source shed torrents of tears. Thus
the Institute was baptized in the tears of these valiant women!”

Madame d’Youville as a child studied with the Ursulines at Montreal, j

the first religious community of women to penetrate into the wilds of the
North American continent, having arrived in Quebec in 1639.

One of her religious advisors while a student of the Ursulines was Mere i
Marie des Anges, who was among the first company of Ursulines to come
from the Old France to the New France. Mother St. Pierre, also an Ursuline
was an aunt of Madame d’Youville and Pierre de Varennes de la Yerendrye,
discoverer of the Rocky Mountains was her uncle.

The work of Madame d’Youville has grown through the 200 years of its
existence. From a community of four women it now numbers 5,300 engaged
in 67 different missions, most of which are located in northern and western
Canada. The most distant of their missions is Aklavik, founded in 1925 and
situated on the delta of the Mackenzie River. It is fifty miles from the
Arctic Ocean and 4000 miles northwest of Montreal.

To one of their former general superiors, Mother Piche, was given the |
decoration, “Commander of the Order of the British Empire,” conferred
upon her by King George V in 1934 in recognition of “fifty-three years of I
intelligent, tireless service for the poor, the sick, the aged and the distant
missions of Western Canada.”

She was the first General Superior ever to visit the extreme northern
missions and although 71 years of age in 1917, she traveled 3,377 miles by
hydroplane and steamboat. The present General Superior, Mother M. E.
Gallant, in 1937, made a journey of 10,647 miles in visiting the northern j
missions. Some 3,000 miles of the journey was covered by plane.

VINCENTIAN SISTERS OF CHARITY

Another religious community in Ohio, established primarily to meet the j
educational needs of the children of Slovak race, is the Vincentian Sisters of j
Charity. The motherhouse is located at Bedford, Ohio, in the former home
of Mrs. Sabina Schatziner, now a resident of Lakewood, Ohio.

It was at the request of Archbishop Joseph Schrembs, archbishop-bishop
of Cleveland that three Sisters came from their first American motherhouse | I
at Perrysville, Pa., to establish a Foundation. The community now numbers

WOMEN OF OHIO

559

90 and is a separate foundation from the Perrysville convent.

This community dates its origin to 1835 in Vienna, Austria, with Carolina
Augusta, daughter of Franz I, Emperor of Austria as the foundress. It
established its first American branch in 1902 with headquarters in Braddock,
Pa., and its work was confined to education in the schools of the Pittsburgh
area. The motherhouse later was transferred to Perrysville, Pa.

Their present convent site of 17 acres was originally given to Archbishop
Schrembs by Mrs. Schatziner to be used for religious or educational pur-
poses. Shortly afterwards, the Sisters were invited to come to the diocese
and the deed of the property was transferred to the Vincentian Sisters. It
is known as Villa San Bernardo, in memory of Mr. Bernard Schatzinger,
husband of the donor. In recognition of her gift, Mrs. Schatzinger was
decorated by Pope Pius XI with the Gold Cross “Pro Ecclesiae et Pontifice.”

SISTERS OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT

A very special interest in the Indian and colored races, prompted Kath-
erine Drexel, of the famed Drexel family of Philadelphia, to found a religious
community of women whose chief work would be to work among these
people. This was in 1891. The old Drexel homestead at Torresdale, Pa.,
became the first convent and novitiate, with Katherine Drexel known as
Mother Katherine Drexel and the religious community which she founded
known as Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament.

Katherine and her two sisters, Mrs. Walter George Smith and Mrs.
Edward Morrell, inherited a large estate from their father, Francis Anthony
Drexel. He had bequeathed $1,500,000 to charity. His daughters, in memory
of their father, founded the Francis A. Drexel chair of moral theology in the
Catholic University, Washington, D. C.

The humility of Katherine Drexel has never revealed the financial con-
tribution which she has made to extend educational work among the Indians
and colored races. All that is known is that she renounced all of her world’s
goods for this cause.

Before her father’s death she had used some of her fortune for the
establishment of five Indian schools, two in the Dakotas and one each in
Minnesota, Wyoming and New Mexico.

In 1887, two years after her father’s death, she had visited Rome and
had an audience with Pope Leo XIII. She begged him to send missionaries
| to America to work among the Indians in the south, southwest and the west.
He listened to her story and then said, “Why not be a missionary yourself.”

After due consideration she entered the convent of the Sisters of Mercy
at Pittsburgh to prepare for a religious life and with other young women of
similar interests, she founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament in 1891.

Her Sisters came to Ohio first in 1912 to teach in St. Cyprian’s School
in Columbus and in 1914 to teach in St, Ann’s School in Cincinnati. In 1925

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women of ohio

they were assigned to Holy Trinity School, Cincinnati and in 1926, when
purchase of the old Notre Dame Academy at Court and Mound Sts., was
completed bj^ the archdiocese of Cincinnati, The Madonna High School for
colored boys and girls became a reality with Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament
in charge. Madonna High School is on the list of accredited high schools of
the State of Ohio.

Cleveland, Ohio came to know of these Sisters in 1922, when they arrived
to take charge of the Blessed Sacrament Parish School for colored children.

The motherhouse of this community is at Cornwell Heights, Pa., where
a Normal school for the Sisters is also conducted. Advanced studies for
school and social work are pursued in Catholic University and Loyola Uni-
versity.

Other states to enjoy the services of these Sisters are Georgia, Texas,
Louisiana, Tennessee, Virginia, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, New York, Illinois,
where work is exclusively among the colored people and in New Mexico,
Arizona, Nebraska and South Dakota, where the work is among the Indians.

The only university in America that is exclusively for colored people
is Xavier University at New Orleans, the gift of Mother Katherine Drexel.

The campus of this university was the scene of many religious ceremonies
for the National Eucharistic Congress held in New Orleans in October, 1938.

SISTERS OF THE VISITATION OF THE HOLY MARY

Sister Mary Agnes Faulhaber became the foundress of the Ohio Founda-
tion of the Sisters of the Visitation of Holy Mary, whose monastery is located
at 1745 Parkside Blvd., Toledo, Ohio.

These Sisters came to Toledo in 1915 in response to the invitation of
Archbishop Joseph Schrembs, then Bishop of Toledo. The foundress was a ;
Cleveland, Ohio woman, who had become a member of the Georgetown I \
Visitation Monastery, some years before.

The Toledo monaster, gift of a generous benefactress whose name may j
not be revealed, houses 37 members, who lead a strictly contemplative life. |

It is the third monastery of the Visitandines, the name by which this religious
order is sometimes known, to adopt the primitive rule of their founder. St.
Frances de Sales, who gave the rule to the Visitandines in 1610.

Stress of circumstances necessitated mitigating the primitive rule so as
to permit both the contemplative and active life and in many of the Visitation l
convents in America the revised rule is in effect.

The Toledo Sisters, however, cling to the primitive rule and seek to
extend the spiritual life beyond the cloister by means of the Archconfraternitv
of Guard of Honor for the Laity, which meets monthly for spiritual exercises.

The confraternity numbers 5,000 persons.

Archbishop Schrembs upon the occasion of the founding of the religious I
community in Toledo, told the Sisters that ‘Tike Moses, you are to remain j

WOMEN OF OHIO

561

upon the mountain-top in prayer and sacrifice to plead for the welfare and
salvation of souls, particularly for those of the diocese, the clergy, the Re-
ligious and the Laity. ”

Many novenas and religious exercises held at the Monastery and con-
ducted by the Jesuit Fathers, attract thousands to the Monastery during the
course of a year.

The work of the Sisters is dedicated to the making of altar breads for
many parishes in Toledo ; mending vestments, sewing and art work.

SISTERS OF THE MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD

A widowed mother and a priest, her son, established a religious founda-
tion in Ohio that has enriched the State in the quality and quantity of services
rendered its citizenry and has spread its influence far beyond the borders of
Ohio.

Maria Anna Brunner of Loewenberg in the Canton of Orisons, Switzer-
land with 12 women companions formed a religious community in 1834 which
had as its sole aim, prayer for increase of vocations to the priesthood and
an increase in zeal for the missions of the Catholic Church. Her son, Francis
de Sales Brunner, had been ordained a priest in 1819. In 1843 with seven
priests and six students he came to Ohio and located at Peru, near Norwalk,
Ohio.

Eager to extend the work of the church in his new locality he sent to
Switzerland to the convent founded by his mother for Sisters to help in the
educational field. His mother had died in 1836, two years after she had
founded the religious community.

In 1844, Mother Maria Anna Albrecht, another widow, who was a pro-
fessed religious, her daughter, Sister Rosa Albrecht and Martina Catherine
Disch, both novices, arrived in Norwalk to take over St. Alphonse school of
which Father Brunner was pastor, and to set up a novitiate for American
recruits.

The log cabin convent which had been erected for their occupancy was
found to be inadequate for the number of young women who sought admission
into this religious community. Consequently a monastery in course of con-
struction at New Reigel, Ohio, for the priests of the Precious Blood order,
who had come a year earlier to Ohio, was turned over for the use of the
Sisters. Within less than a year’s time the community numbered 14 Sisters.

Sister Crescentia, a Benedictine nun, exiled from France during the
French Revolution, had sought shelter in the home of relatives, who had
also fled from France and located near Norwalk, Ohio. She was of great help
to the young community. Sister Mary Adelaide Schmerge, one of the first
applicants, came from Buffalo. An experienced teacher, she, too, rendered
invaluable help.

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WOMEN OF OHIO

In 1848 Father Brunner conceived the plan of establishing a training
school for teachers and Dr. Muller and other priests of the Precious Blood
Order, assisted by Sister Crescentia, staffed the new school. The first en-
rollment consisted of 10 Sisters. As early as 1888, names of Sisters from the
Precious Blood community were found on the registers of such colleges and
universities as were opened to women at that time and down through the
years, even until today, their Sisters are to be found attending the leading
colleges and universities in the country.

Their work has extended far beyond that of praying for vocations, and
of educating poor children. They conduct 40 elementary schools, most of
them within the area of the archdiocese of Cincinnati and the diocese of
Toledo and Cleveland. They own three of the 15 high schools in which they
teach, one, “The Regina, ” is their latest undertaking. It is located at
Norwood, a suburb of Cincinnati. The other two are located at Salem Heights,
near Dayton and at San Luis Rey, Cal.

They serve parishes in Indiana, Missouri, Tennessee, California and New
Mexico. In California and New Mexico, they work among Mexican and Indian
children and in Sedalia, Mo., they conduct a school for colored children.

They own and operate the famous Kneipp Sanitarium at Rome City, Ind. ;
own the Maria Joseph home for Aged at Salem Heights, near Dayton; a
boarding school at Minster, Ohio for orphaned girls; the Pilgrim House at
Frank, Ohio. They are in charge of St. Joseph’s orphanage at Dayton, Ohio; <
of the domestic work at the archepiscopal residence of Archbishop McNicholas
in Norwood, a suburb of Cincinnati, and of the Fenwick Club in Cincinnati.
They also have charge of the domestic work in five seminaries, including St. f
Charles’ Borromeo Seminary of the Precious Blood Fathers at Carthage,
Ohio, and the Brunnerdale Preparatory Seminary at Brunnerdale, near
Canton, Ohio.

For more than 60 years they have taught in the public schools in seven
counties of Ohio and are on the faculty of the Athenaeum of Ohio, located
at Cincinnati. Some of their Sisters who have taught on the public school j
faculty have since been retired on pension. All teachers hold state certificates
and a great many of them have life certificates.

The motherhouse, once Castle Loewenberg in Switzerland, a gift to 1
Father Brunner from Count Henry von Mont, was sold in 1850 and the
Swiss convent was closed. Members there journeyed to America and joined
the Sisters at Maria Stein, Ohio, where the motherhouse had been located !
since 1846. In 1923 another site at Salem Heights near Dayton, Ohio, was
purchased and this is now the site of the motherhouse and novitiate.

Since its beginning nearly 100 years ago, nearly 1,800 women have en-
rolled in this religious community. They number today more than 800
religious.

In 1933, steps were taken to exhume the body of their foundress, Maria
Anna Brunner, who had died in 1836 and was buried near Castle Loewenberg.

WOMEN OF OHIO

563

The body was brought to America and rests in a shrine to the left of the
large chapel of Perpetual Adoration at the motherhouse at Salem Heights.

According to the convent records, “every bone of the body was well
preserved ; the hands were perfect, still folded and covered with flesh and
skin, with finger nails attached.”

CONGREGATION OF THE SISTERS, SERVANTS OF THE
IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY

An almost century old religious community which saw its beginning
close to Ohio’s borders in Monroe, Mich., in 1845 has extended its influence
into Ohio and its members today, some 50 of them, are engaged in three
Ohio schools, located in Akron, Canton and Lorain, all in the diocese of
Cleveland. They staff elementary and high schools in these cities.

From a log cabin convent beginning in Monroe, Mich., with a membership
of four Sisters, the congregation now numbers 917 professed Sisters, 64
novices and 32 postulants.

Father Louis Florent Gillet, a Redemptorist missionary engaged in mission
work in Southern Michigan, founded this religious community of women to
assist him in educational work.

Many Ohio girls have been educated in St. Mary’s academy and boarding
school in Monroe, Mich., and in Marygrove College, Detroit, Mich.

SISTERS OF THE INCARNATE WORD

Cleveland, Ohio shelters one religious community, the Sisters of the In-
carnate Word, whose members in its 350 years’ history have suffered exile
from two countries, from France during the French Revolution and more
recently from Mexico, during the Religious persecution there.

Exiles from the Mexican convents came to Cleveland in 1927 at the
invitation of Archbishop Joseph Schrembs. Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine
extended hospitality until a temporary convent home could be procured.

Within three years, on March 4, 1930, their permanent motherhouse
was established at 6618 Pearl Rd., Parma Heights, and from 1930 until 1935
when a novitiatite was established until 1935, the community grew from seven
members to 35. Their present number in Ohio is 57.

They teach in two schools. Immaculate Conception School, Wellsville,
Ohio, and St. Anthony-St. Bridget School, Cleveland, Ohio. In addition they
conduct a day school for boys and girls at their convent site in Parma Heights.

In 1935 a disastrous fire almost wiped out the convent. The Sisters sought
shelter in a barn on the convent property. The fire occurred at 5 a.m. on a
cold January morning. News of it had no sooner reached Cleveland than
many offers of help came to them. The Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine
were again their benefactors, having been the first to arrive on the scene witli

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WOMEN OF OHIO

conveyances to transport the Sisters to the various convents of the Sisters
of Charity in Cleveland.

In the meantime the Carmelite Sisters had moved from their convent
at 11127 St. Clair St., to a larger convent in Cleveland Heights, and the
Incarnate Word Sisters were transferred to the Carmelite convent. The
Parma convent was rebuilt. The St. Clair convent is now a center for edu-
cational and religious activities for the Sisters.

SISTERS OF THE HOLY HUMILITY OF MARY

In New Bedford, Pa., a small farming village on the border line of Ohio
and Pennsylvania, is located a religious community of nuns, who have served
75 years in the diocese of Cleveland. Although their property is located in
Pennsylvania, just across the state line of Ohio, it has always been regarded
as an Ohio community, first by reason of the fact that it was an Ohio bishop,
Bishop Rappe, the first bishop of Cleveland, who gave these exiled Sisters
from France a place of refuge, and again because it is in the various cities
of Ohio that the Sisters have rendered their greatest service in education
and in hospitalization and social welfare.

It is the community known as the Sisters of the Holy Humility of Mary,
but one which is more familiarly known as the “Blue Nuns/’ from the color
of their religious habit.

Prior to 1845 there was no Catholic Church in the territory between
Pittsburgh and Cleveland. William Murrin, a well-to-do-farmer of New
Bedford, in 1846 built a log cabin chapel on his farm, and also a log-cabin
house for Father Reid of Pittsburgh, who was assigned as a permanent
pastor. In 1855 Mr. Murrin deeded his farm of 250 acres to Bishop O’Connor
of Pittsburgh to be used for church purposes. However, Bishop O’Connor
insisted that 100 acres of this and the farm house be retained by Mr. Murrin
during his life time. A two story brick house was built by Bishop O’Connor
for the purpose of a seminary, but the distance from the nearest railroad j
station was so great and transportation facilities of that day so inadequate,
that the seminary plan had to be abandoned. A Franciscan order of men
took charge. The ground was considered unproductive and they abandoned
it, as it was neither suitable for school purposes or farming purposes — or so
they thought.

The Bishop of Pittsburgh must have concluded that he had a “white!
elephant” on his hands, so deeded it to Bishop Rappe of the Cleveland diocese
for the sum of $3,000 — just the cost of the two story brick seminary, which
had been built upon the land. This was about 1859.

Bishop Rappe decided to use it as an orphanage site for the orphaned
and dependent boys of the diocese, and placed the Sisters of Charity of St.
Augustine in charge. They had come to Cleveland in 1851 from France.

WOMEN OF OHIO

565

These Sisters carried on for four years and in 1863 they too abandoned it —
not so much because of disheartenment or discouragement, but because
Bishop Rappe needed Sisters to staff the first hospital that was then being
established in the present area of Cleveland.

The hospital is known today as St. Vincent’s Charity Hospital. Mean-
j while in Donmartin. France in 1854, the pastor of the village, Rev. J. J. Begel,

| was greatly alarmed at the lack of educational facilities for the poor children
| of the village. One of his parishioners, a woman of wealth, Mile. Antoinette
Potier, offered the use of her home, and the means to defray ordinary ex-
penses. He engaged a teacher who made her home with Mile. Potier and a
year later in 1855 Mile. Potier, her housekeeper and the teacher, asked per-
mission to form a religious community, and to be given a religious rule. Their
request was granted.

Napoleon III and the French Revolution changed the course of events
for this young religious community. Father Begel in his public denouncement
of Napoleon’s oppression of the Church won the ill favor of the government.
He escaped personal punishment but the new sisterhood of which he was the
founder was subjected to many annoyances, such as being refused teaching
I certificates, despite possession of necessary qualifications.

Father Louis Hoffer, a French missionary who was pastor at Louisville,
Ohio, was in France to engage teachers for his parish school. He consulted
Father Begel, who agreed to send his small group to America, should the
1 necessary invitation come from Bishop Rappe. No time was lost in securing
this invitation.

On the eve of sailing to America, their foundress and benefactress, Mile.
Potier, known in religion as Mother Magdalene, died. Father Begel piloted
the disconsolate group to America, arriving in New York, May 30, 1864 and
in the diocese of Cleveland early in June.

They were directed to the thrice abandoned Murrin farm at New Bedford,
as the site from which their activities in the diocese were to be directed. They
had become accustomed to extreme poverty in their native France, because of
their own choice they chose to serve the poor, but the sight which met their
eyes at New Bedford filled them with dismay. The land was in a wild state,
undrained, overgrown with brush, where it was not densely covered with
j woods and dotted with sloughs. The land surrounding the building was a
marsh studded with stumps.

Today that site of 250 acres is one of the most picturesque spots in the
entire diocese. Woman’s labor, not man’s, converted the marshy swamp into
a well drained, well cultivated, and well landscaped estate. When a decade
ago, it became necessary to partly rebuild the convent home because of a
disastrous fire, the wood beams of solid oak were found to be in perfect con-
dition. The beams of oak and walnut, it was revealed, came from the woods
that abounded on the farm. In the clearing of the forests, the Sisters them-

566

WOMEN OF OHIO

selves did the work, they felled the trees, hewed the logs, and dragged them by
chains to the site where their first and only convent still stands. They baked
the bricks in their own home made kilns — these women who in their native
France had been unused to any type of manual labor. They sheared the
sheep, and wove the wool into material for garments for their own use and
for the orphans in their care. They set up their own shoe shop, making and
repairing shoes.

There still lives at the motherhouse a Sister, Mother M. Genevieve, one
time superior, who as a music pupil nearly 70 years ago, heard the story of j
the pioneer days from the first superioress in America, Mother Anna. Mother
Anna, as Maria Tabourat, a daughter of a French colonel, had joined the j
community in France.

A Mrs. Martin Clark of Youngstown, Ohio journeyed to New Bedford /
to instruct the Sisters in the English tongue, as their ignorance of the lan-
guage made it difficult for them to engage in school work. Ursuline nuns of
Cleveland took another of their members into their convent for a year to 1
instruct her in English. The Ursulines of Cleveland and the Ladies of the
Sacred Heart secured orders for fine needlework and sewing as a means of pro- :
viding a livelihood for the Sisters and their orphan charges.

All of these hardships have become a matter of tradition to this religious
community, which from the original band of four in France and 20 in the
first American foundation has now 386 members.

With the building of the Nypano railroad in nearby Youngstown, Irish
immigrants who found employment on the railroad, journeyed to New Bed- >j|
ford when in need of medical care. Of necessity a small building had to be
erected to hospitalize these emergency cases. This is said to have been the ]j
first hospital within the present area of Youngstown. It continued to serve the
nearby farming community until the erection of St. Elizabeth’s hospital in
Youngstown about 26 years ago.

Today the Sisters own and staff three hospitals, St. Elizabeth’s, Youngs-
town; St. Joseph’s at Warren, Ohio and St. Joseph’s at Lorain, Ohio. They j
conduct three academies, St. Joseph’s academy at the motherhouse. Mount j
Marie academy, Canton and Lourdes academy, Cleveland. They teach in 26 j
parish schools in the Cleveland diocese.

They conduct the Rosemary Home for Crippled Children in Euclid, Ohio. 1
This home was once the family residence of the Caesar Grasselli family. Mrs. i
Grasselli was an invalid for many years. Upon her death Mr. Grasselli gave
the home and the grounds to Bishop Joseph Schrembs, to be put to some use I
for the benefit of suffering humanity, in memory of his wife.

Just at that time, an abandoned baby found upon an ash' pile in Youngs- |
town had been taken to St. Elizabeth’s hospital for care. She was found to
be badly crippled. She was tenderly cared for, and when the Rosemary home j t
in Cleveland was opened in 1922 as a hospice for crippled children, this

WOMEN OF OHIO

567

abandoned baby, who was called Rosemary, was its first patient. She is now
a young woman, well able to make her own way in the world.

Assisting the Sisters in directing the work at Rosemary Home is a group
of men and women named the Johanna Grasselli Guild in memory of Mrs.
Grasselli.

Members of the Grasselli family continue their interest in the home in
memory of their parents.

SISTERS OF CHARITY OF ST. AUGUSTINE

Joyously looking forward to the completion of their first century of
service in America, all of which has been rendered in Ohio and in cities of
the diocese of Cleveland, are the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine. This
religious community has already stored up 88 years of glorious history since
their first four members came to Cleveland in 1851.

Mother Bernardine, superior of their convent in Boulogne-sur-mer, and
experienced in hospital management, with three companions, came to Cleve-
land in response to the appeal of Bishop Rappe for nursing Sisters to care
for the sick.

This religious order has a heritage that goes back to the year 1223, as
it claims to be a branch of the Augustinian Sisters organized in Arras, France,
i at that time. Its French foundation was forced to close during the French
revolution only to be reorganized again again with the cessation of hostilities.

Sister Francoise, a professed Sister and two postulants, Louise Brnlois
and Cornelie Museler, accompanied Mother Bernardine to Cleveland. Ursu-
line Nuns who had come from Boulogne-snr-mer a year before, extended them
hospitality until their own convent, a humble dwelling on Monroe St., on the
; West Side of Cleveland, became available.

From this center the Sisters visited the homes, caring for the sick and
soliciting funds for the building of a hospital. In August, 1852, less than a
year after their arrival in Cleveland their new hospital, named St. Joseph’s,
was opened and received its first patient. It was the first public hospital,

| other than a government hospital, in Cleveland and it continued its service
until 1865, when the present St. Vincent’s Charity Hospital, on E. 22nd St.,
[was erected from funds received by public subscription. Soldiers returning
from the Civil war and passing through Cleveland were denied hospitaliza-
tion because of lack of facilities. In 1863 Bishop Rappe made a public appeal
[that if funds were provided for the erection of a suitable hospital, he would
(provide the Nursing Sisters.

St. Vincent’s orphanage on Monroe St., was the next venture of the
j Sisters, which was opened in 1852 by Bishop Rappe. Meanwhile Mother
jllernardine and Sister Francoise returned to France, and Mother Ursula, whom
| is Catherine Bisonnette from near Sandusky, Ohio, was placed in charge of
t St. Vincent’s, became the first American superioress of the Sisters of Charity.

568

WOMEN OF OHIO

Father Louis De Goesbriand, who as chancellor of the diocese of Cleve-
land had escorted the French Sisters to Cleveland, and during their 14 days
sea voyage was their teacher, instructing them in English, wrote in his remini- j.
sconces concerning Mother Ursula — he was stationed at Sandusky at the time
of the cholera epidemic and she was a member of his parish — “There is another ;
name which I desire to mention. It is that of Miss C. Bisonnette of La Prarie, |
who became Mother Ursula, the first superioress of the St. Vincent’s Orphan
Asylum now on Monroe St., and who died Sept. 11, 1863. During the cholera j
which did so much havoc in Sandusky City, many Catholic children had lost
both their parents and some poor widows were left in the greatest distress.

At my request this courageous young girl, whose labors at La Prarie toward j
the instruction of children I knew, came at once to Sandusky City, at a time , i
when all who could had fled. We made her take possession of a good house
which had been deserted. Furniture was obtained by entering a steam boat
which lay deserted in the bay. Thus this devoted soul managed to provide j :
for the wants of orphans and parents till the terrible scourge had passed i
away. Her vocation to a religious life was undoubtedly the reward for her
generosity in offering her life for the sake of the orphans. I know of few >
persons for whom nature and divine grace has done so much as for the ven- H
erable Mother Ursula.”

In the archives of the Ursuline convent in Cleveland is the record of the
first religious profession ceremonies for the Ursuline Nuns in Cleveland and >
on Dec. 28, 1852, Miss Catherine Bisonnette was clothed in the religious j
habit of the Ursulines and was given the name of Sister St. Ursula in honor
of the patronness of the order of Ursulines. She had enrolled with the Ursu- j
lines on Oct. 15, 1850. Prior to her profession as an Ursuline nun, Bishop
Rappe had requested of her that following her profession, she give up her
Ursuline vocation in order to take charge of St. Joseph’s hospital and St.
Vincent’s Orphan asylum both of which were in charge of the Sisters of
Charity. In obedience to the wishes of her Bishop, she left her Ursuline 1
convent at 3 p. m. the day of her profession, to take charge of the hospital |
and orphanage and to become the first American superior of the Sisters of
Charity of St. Augustine.

It was a sacrifice on the part of the Ursulines to relinquish their first j !
American postulant and it was an equally great sacrifice on the part of Mother
Ursula to tear herself away from her associates whom she had come to know
during her two years in the novitiate. It only serves to prove the life of
renunciation of a nun — “Not my Will, but Thine be done,” are the words
that inspire the Catholic sisterhoods to relinquish all things of the world and
to dedicate themselves — their whole being, to His service.

Among the early novices to be welcomed by the Sisters of Charity in
Cleveland were Ellen and Margaret Woods, of Youngstown, Ohio, daughters
of Mary Shehy Woods, whose father, Daniel Shehy, settled in Youngstown,

WOMEN OF OHIO

569

Ohio in 1796. It was in Mrs. Woods log cabin home that Mass was first offered
in the present area of Youngstown and continued to be offered there on the
occasions when Bishop Fenwick and other missionary priests came through
the town.

For many years care of the sick and the orphans was the chief work
of the Sisters of Charity. In later years however they have extended their
service into the educational field. They conduct St. Augustine’s academy and
day school at their motherliouse in Lakewood, Ohio, and teach parish schools
of the diocese. The Lakewood site was purchased in 1885.

St. Vincent’s orphanage has been enlarged and transferred to a large
acreage west of Cleveland, known as Parmadale, or “The Children’s Village.”
It operates on the cottage plan. Some 40 children, graded according to ages
found in the normal home, are cared for in each of the 12 cottages. There
is a community school, a church, and playgrounds in the Children’s Village.

St. Ann’s Maternity Hospital and home for unwed mothers was opened
in Cleveland in 1873; Mercy Hospital, Canton, in 1908; St. John’s Hospital,
Cleveland, in 1916; St. Thomas’ Hospital, Akron, 1928 and in 1938, their first
mission outside of the diocese of Cleveland was opened in Columbia, S. C.,
when Providence Hospital was established.

The work of the Sisters of Charity quickly appealed to the citizens of
Cleveland and the cities surrounding it. As early as 1865, the hand carved
altar of exquisite workmanship, which adorned the chapel in the first wing
of the present St. Vincent’s charity Hospital was the gift of Catherine Loftus
Cummins, a woman who worked as a servant in the homes of the wealthy of
Cleveland. This altar is still in use in the chapel at the Forest View farm
home of the Sisters, located in Elyria, Ohio. This farm of 300 acres, between
Elyria and Oberlin, was a gift to the Sisters in 1930 from Josephine Maher
and her husband, Thomas K. Maher of Cleveland.

Catherine Cummins spent all her earnings in providing altars and sacred
vessels and vestments for chapels and churches in Cleveland. She died in the
home of the Little Sisters of the Poor in Cleveland in 1892. A modest tomb-
stone marks her last resting place in Calvary Cemetery, Cleveland, the gift
of the Sisters of Charity and the Rev. William McMahon and Msgr. T. P.
Thorpe, whose parishes, St. Bridget’s and Immaculate Conception, benefitted
by Catherine Cummins’ generosity.

Mrs. Rosa Klorer of Canton, Ohio, whose death occurred in 1938, and
who spent the last years of her life in Mercy hospital, Canton, under the
kindly care of the Sisters of Charity, was a generous benefactor to Mercy
hospital. She was honored by Pope Pius XI with the Gold Cross Pro Ecclesiae
et Pontifice in recognition of her generous gifts to Mercy hospital and to other
charitable enterprises of the diocese.

With the opening of St. Vincent’s Charity hospital Oct. 10, 1865, made
necessary because of the growth of the city which now numbered a population

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WOMEN OF OHIO

of 50.000, and the additional needs of the returning soldiers from the Civil
War, the chief of staff, Dr. Gustave C. E. Weber, retired surgeon general of
the U. S. Army opened Charity Hospital Medical school. In 1881 this medical
school merged with the Cleveland Medical College to form the present flour-
ishing Medical School of Western Reserve University.

The first patients to be admitted to the new St. Vincent’s charity hospital
were wounded soldiers from the Civil War battlefields.

St. Vincent’s hospital still continues to serve in the down town area of
Cleveland on the site purchased in 1865. A nurses home, new wings to the old
buildings, and equipment to meet new developments in hospital science brings
the appraised value of this property to the sum of $2,113,916.

St. Ann’s Maternity hospital and equipment is valued at $275,329 and
St. John’s hospital, Cleveland, at $747,148.

Many of their Sisters have specialized in pharmacy, laboratory technic,
medical social work, X-ray and social service, hospital administration in addi-
tion to those who are specially trained in Pedagogy, and in the arts and
sciences.

The first two nuns to become registered pharmacists in Ohio were Sisters
of Charity of Cleveland. According to the Midland Druggist Magazine, pub-
lished in 1901, ‘‘Neither of them had ever attended a school of pharmacy, nor
had they been employed in a retail drug store. But they had studied phar-
macy for several years and obtained their practical experience in the phar-
macy connected with the hospital.”

The Sisters conduct outpatient and social service departments in St. Vin-
cent’s, St. Ann’s and St. John’s hospital and have nurses training schools
in connection with all of their hospitals in Ohio.

They number 300 members.

URSULINE NUNS

Ursuline Nuns came to Ohio in 1845 and located at St. Martin’s, Ohio, in
Brown County. They were not the first nuns to come to Ohio, but they can
claim the distinction of being first in many other adventures which have left
their mark indelibly on the history of Ohio and of civilization.

Their sainted foundress, St. Angela de Merici, raised to the rank of
Sainthood by Pope Pius IX, was claimed by him to have been “the first
apostle of female education,” as she set up in Brescia, Italy in 1535, the first
school which was to be exclusively for the education of young girls.

She attributed the breakdown of society of that time to the lack of
Christian mothers. Italy had many schools for the training of young men, but
none of a monastic type for girls and it was to meet this need that Angela,
a well educated and well traveled girl of wealth, formed a religious community
with other women, and began immediately a school exclusively for the educa-
tion of young girls.

WOMEN OF OHIO

571

She died five years after she had founded this Religious Congregation,
but within those years she budded so well her Religious Institute that it has
survived persecution and dispersement of its members — an Institute which
has attracted thousands of young women of many nationalities, many of whom
imposed self-exile upon themselves, that they might follow in Angela’s foot-
steps.

It was an Ursuline nun from the Paris convent, Mother Bernard, who in
1608 introduced the solemn public ceremony attached to children’s reception
of First Holy Communion. This solemnity is now universally observed by the
Catholic Church.

Madame Marie Guyard, a widow of Tours, France, as Mother Mary of
the Incarnation of the Ursulines of Tours, was the first nun to penetrate the
wilderness of the North American continent. She arrived in Quebec on Aug.
1, 1639. Quebec was then a hamlet of 250 inhabitants. Two other Ursuline
Nuns, and three hospital nuns of the order of St. Augustine accompanied her.
Their benefactress, Madame de la Peltrie, a widow of considerable fortune,
who had no desire for the religious life, but who did have a burning desire
to devote her life and fortune to missionary work among the Indians, encour-
aged Mother Mary of the Incarnation to venture forth. She financed the trip
and accompanied the nuns to the New France.

Nearly a century later, in 1727, another band of nine Ursulines from
Rouen, France, headed by Mother St. Augustine, set up the first convent and
the first convent school on American soil, in New Orleans, which at that time
was a French possession. They came on the invitation of Governor Bienville,
the governor of New Orleans.

Ursulines initiated the parochial school system in the area now known
as the Cleveland diocese, and in 1850 on their convent site on Euclid Ave.,
they set up their first free school, in buildings which once served as a barn
and a stable. In 1871 Cleveland Ursulines established the first Catholic College
for Women in Ohio and the first College for Women in Cleveland and were
empowered by an act of the State Legislature “to confer all such degrees
and honors as are conferred by colleges and universities of the United States.”

This was just six years after the establishment of Vassar college, claimed
bv educators to be the “legitimate parent” of the colleges for Women because
Vassar insisted upon the same standards as were required by men’s colleges.

The Ursuline nuns of Ohio were the first religious from convents east of
the Mississippi to answer the plea of Bishop John B. Brondel, then Vicar
Apostolic of Montana, to establish schools among the Indians. This was in
1884.

Sara Therese Dunn of Akron, Ohio, educated by the Cleveland Ursulines,
professed a religious in the Toledo Ursuline convent, and given the name of
Mother Amadeus, was among the 36 Ursulines to volunteer. Six were selected
| and Mother Amadeus was placed in charge as superior general by Bishop
Richard Gilmour, second Bishop of Cleveland.

572

WOMEN OF OHIO

Bishop Brondel had been appealed to for help by government officials,
who were experiencing difficulty in subduing the Cheyenne Indians, then
being moved into Indian territory. Some one had suggested that “Catholic
religious” could do more to subdue these people than could an army of sol-
diers. Mother Amadeus and her company of Ursulines proved the truth of
that prediction, as the history of the Ursulines in Montana, in Alaska and in 1
the Arctic Region bear glorious testimony. From Montana Mother Amadeus
forged ahead into Alaska and into the Arctic, and was prevented from explor-
ing to a point beyond civilization only by the warning of the Bishop that it j
would be impossible for him to provide a priest to offer the Sacrifice of the
Mass oftener than once a year.

To be deprived of this privilege, this participation in the daily renewal 1
of Calvary, was more than Mother Amadeus could bear, and it is the only
instance on record where her zeal for souls was subdued. To the Indians she j
was known as “Teresa of the Arctics” — to Ursulines the world over, she is 1
reverently referred to as “Our Mother Amadeus.”

The first Ursulines for Ohio arrived in Cincinnati on June 19, after a 29
days sea voyage which began on May 4 at Havre, France, and a 17 days trip j
from New York to Cincinnati by river packet, rail, stage coach and river
packet again. While traveling through the vast forests of Maryland by stage
coach they even experienced the fright of a stage coach hold-up.

Their first night in New York was spent in lodgings on “beautiful Broud-
way” so the diary reads and the loud clanging of bells during the night
frightened the nuns into believing that all New York was afire.

There were eleven nuns in the party, eight of whom came from the Ursu-
line convent of Beaulieu, France and three others from the convent of Bou-
logne-sur-mer. The three from the Boulogne convent spoke English. One f
of these was Mother Julia Chatfield, once a student in the Ursuline convent
at Boulogne. She as Sister Julia of the Assumption was named Superior of
the group.

The Quebec nuns were three months on board ship before arriving at their
destination in Quebec and their first convent was a house of two rooms — built
of planks. Their beds were of pine boards and were tiered in the manner of j
berths. They were forced to share their own meager goods, which they 1 1
brought with them from France — their bedding for instance — to make cloth-
ing for the Indian children. Their food consisted of salt fish and lard.

The New Orleans company of Ursulines were five months enroute and they
experienced everything save shipwreck. The last two weeks of their journey
was on two small boats. Their deck chairs were the freight on board ; their
beds, rain soaked mattresses and their food, hard tack and salt pork.

It is little wonder that Agnes Repplier has referred to them as being
“the most adventurous of nuns.” This she says in her life of Mother Mary
of the Incarnation, “Mere Marie of the Ursulines” published by Doubleday
Doran in 1931.

WOMEN OF OHIO

The generous hospitality of Mr. and Mrs. David Corr of Cincinnati made
the arrival of the Ursulines in Ohio a more pleasant occasion. The Corrs wel-
comed the eleven black bonneted women into their home and kept them
there, until a final decision had been reached as to which of four available
sites would be selected. These were located, one in Chillicothe, one in Dayton,
one in Louisville, Ky., and the fourth in St. Martin’s, Brown County.

The nuns visited each of the sites, and unable to make a decision, they
told Archbishop Purcell, “we have no choice. We are content to go wherever
you wish.”

And it was St. Martin’s in Brown County, a site of 400 acres rich in
American history then, and later to become rich in Church history, that Arch-
bishop Purcell selected for them. The Ursulines have occupied this site for
nigh unto a century.

“On this site,” one of the Sisters wrote to the Sisters in France, “are
two pretty little creeks, two springs and a well ; three horses, five cows and
a bull. We bought one hundred peach trees at three sous each and ten ‘mag-
nificent’ sheep at a dollar apiece.”

The Sisters took possession and in October, 1845 they established their
first boarding school, with an enrollment of six pupils. Mrs. Corr’s adopted
daughters, Josephine and Mary and a friend, Margaret McLenan of Cincin-
I nati, were among the six. As the Ursuline order is primarily an educational
institute, in addition to the boarding school, the Ursulines gathered about them
the children around St. Martin’s to instruct them in their religion. They
established a free school at St. Martin’s for the poor children of the vicinity
and discontinued it only when public schools were established — and the Ursu-
line nuns, because of the dearth of lay teachers for the public school faculty,

I for awhile were employed to staff the public schools and were paid from funds
j raised by public taxation.

A loan of $10,000 from their motherhouse in Boulogne-sur-mer enabled
the Sisters to build a brick convent school, which was ready for occupancy in
j September, 1846. The stone for the foundation of this school was quarried
from the creek, called “Solomon’s Run.” The woods surrounding the convent
I provided lumber ; the brick was made in the convent yard and only the glass
and hardware were “imported” from Cincinnati and hauled by wagon a dis-
j tance of forty miles.

The Boulogne and the Beauville convents, from which the 11 Sisters came,
had already provided 20,000 francs to cover the cost of voyage and to assist
in the maintenance of the nuns until such time as the Sisters could earn their
| keep from their boarding school.

Mrs. Corr and her daughters, with beribboned spades, took part in the
I ground breaking ceremonies for the new convent school.

The first commencement exercises took place in 1848, and it made the
I columns of the Cincinnati newspapers who referred to the Ursulines as

574

WOMEN OF OHIO

“women of culture, women of presence, religious women.”

The first catalogue of the Brown County Ursulines explained the aims
of the school :

“To form young ladies to virtue; to ornament their minds with useful
information, accustom them to early habits of order and economy and to culti-
vate in them those qualities which render virtue both amiable and attractive,
not only in the family circle, but in society likewise ; this shall be the object
of the constant efforts of the community which now solicits a select patronage.”

The prospectus further revealed that among the studies were :

Astronomy and the Use of the Globes
Mythology, Biography and Antiquities
Philosophy (physics) and Chemistry
Botany, Geography, Rhetoric.

It was also explained that they charged for ink and quills; for lessons
in tapestry, pearl and waxwork flower-making. Small fingers were trained
to ply everything from a pen to a harpstring and as to languages, German,
French, Italian, Latin, Spanish were taught as elective studies, and “those
among the graduate class who have attained any proficiency in French pursue
their studies in that language.”

“No improper influence is ever to be used to bias the religious principles
of the young ladies.” This was inserted, as the school already was attracting
daughters of non-Catholics and it was the fulfillment of a tradition of the
Ursulines through their centuries of conducting schools, that those not of
the Catholic Faith need have no fear that their respective religious beliefs
would not be respected.

One of their first pupils was a Mary MacHugh, who at 20 years of age
enrolled as a boarding pupil. She knew little of religion or religious practices,
but she was wise in the ways of the world. Her first night at recreation threw
Sisters and pupils into a state of shock. She nonchalantly brought forth her
pipe and smoked it. The records do not say that she was asked to give up
pipe smoking, but it can well be imagined that she was made to feel the!
impropriety of it, in a Girl boarding school.

Jennie Springer, niece of Reuben Springer, who endowed Cincinnati!
Music Hall, was one of the earlier pupils of Brown County who had dis-j
tinguished herself in music and was an accomplished harpist. In 1863 she
provided the funds with which to build a residence for the chaplain.

The fame of the school spread, necessitating new buildings to meet the!
demands of parents for this special educational training of their daughters.'
During the Civil War the Sisters found themselves in what might ordinarily |
be considered a difficult position, as daughters of Army officers, fighting on
both sides, for the North and the South were enrolled as pupils. In some;
magical manner, the Sisters were able to continue them in school throughout!
the duration of the war. Children of the Shermans, the Rosecrans, Scammonsj

WOMEN OF OHIO

575

Ewings, were among those enrolled. Not only that, but mothers of many of
the daughters from the South, who had come to visit with their daughters,
were unable to return, and so accepted the hospitality of the Brown County
nuns until safety could be assured.

The fancy bead and embroidery work was set aside to make way for the
knitting machines, in which nuns and pupils took part, knitting socks and
mittens for the soldiers fighting on both sides of the lines. The nuns taught
the pupils to turn the heels of socks by hand, and taught boarding and day
pupils to make bandages, which were sent to the field hospitals. The day
pupils in turn taught their mothers the same art and so from their cloister,
the Ursulines played their part in alleviating the sufferings in the War of
the States.

Archbishop Purcell had a special interest in the school and encouraged
the Sisters to feature exhibitions of work done by the pupils. On one such
occasion, he organized a party from Cincinnati. The party traveled by special
train to the nearest station to the convent, and then by coach over the five
j miles of hilly country.

A reporter for the Cincinnati Commercial “ covered’ ’ the event, and in
|! writing of it in the next day’s issue described the ride through the country
| as “hilly as a camel’s back and over roads as rought as machine poetry. If
those prelates can pray as fervently as they can laugh, he wrote, I declare
I’ll be bound to have faith in their prayers.”

The Bishop co-operated heartily with the Nuns. To those who frowned
upon dramatics in school, he said:

“All life is dramatic because all life is action. And drama, from its
I Greek etymology means nothing more than action. The drama may be abused;
j so may the holiest things. We detest prudishness, puritanism. The Catholic
| has the highest sanction in his Church for the lawfulness of such preseu-
; tations.”

Pupils at Brown County had an unusual advantage, the Brown County
. site was already rich in historical lore. It was once known as Soldiers Lands,
and was a part of the Virginia Military District, which came into Virginia’s
possessions following the American Revolutionary War.

General Lytle, a real estate promoter, sensed the commercial value of land
i that would have a church and school nearby, and so offered a gift of the tract
i of 400 acres of his claim to Bishop Fenwick, first bishop of Ohio, to be used
l for religious and educational purposes.

Barthlemy Schuler and Stephen Baundistl in the meantime had escaped
i from Napoleon’s army in Egypt, had sought refuge in Switzerland and later
i crossed into Bohemia, where they married their childhood sweethearts and
I then emigrated to America. Without funds, they sold themselves to ship-
I owners for their passage and after seven years as bond-slaves, they were
j liberated and started for Ohio. They were Catholics and so appealed to
| Bishop Fenwick for help.

576

WOMEN OF OHIO

“Go out to the lands that are mine in Brown County, he told them, cut
down some trees and build yourselves cabins. All you can raise upon the
lands is yours to keep. Build me a church and I’ll send you a priest to help
you save your souls.” They did as directed. Husbands and wives worked
shoulder to shoulder tilling the soil, hewing the lumber that went into the j
first log cabin chapel and then Father Martin Kundig came to minister to
them and to eight other families, whom he found nearby. These two pioneer |
families cleared the forests, and opened up roads which connected Lynchburg |
and Fayetteville with St. Martins.

They later assisted in building a frame church, a two story brick seminary. ;
and some barns for the farm stock.

When the Sisters took possession in 1845 the seminary was transferred 1
to Cincinnati. A Betsy Bamber, two Indian boys and two white men formed i
the first choir in this log cabin church at St. Martins.

It was near St. Martins and the site of the Brown County Ursulines, that |
the famous “Underground Railway” of the Civil War was located. Slaves >
from the South seeking refuge in Canada, crossed over from the southern
lines near this point, and because of the many secret trails which the forests
afforded, gave rise to the name.

This neighborhood was the scene of much of the action in Harriet Beecher
Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” a book which was avidly read by nuns and j
pupils at the time of its publication. It was highly endorsed by Archbishop
Purcell, who made a special trip to Brown County convent to make a present
of the book to the Nuns, only to learn that it had already been received as
a present, and was being read by nuns and pupils.

It was down the road, right past the convent that Morgan and his raiders
rode one night, the great trees on the convent estate sheltering the convent;
from the marauders and looters. The nuns in their darkened convent kneeling
in prayer and sheltered by locked shutters, heard the clattering of horses’ :
hoofs, and they declared that “there were 2,000 raiders in the Morgan outfit.”;

Archbishop Purcell was well known among the Catholic hierarchy of that!
day and one never visited in the vicinity of Cincinnati without paying a j
visit. He always shared these visits with the nuns and pupils of Brown i
County. Consequently men who were part of the history of the Catholic!
Church in America and who participated in many history making events in
the Church Universal came to visit Brown County.

There was Archbishop Blanc, French missionary, first Archbishop of
New Orleans and one of the few Americans to attend the Vatican Council
in 1854, at which the dogma of the Immaculate Conception was promulgated
This experience he shared with nuns and pupils.

There were Bishop Lamy of the Sante Fe trail, hero of Willa Cather’i
book, “Death Comes for the Archbishop”; Bishop Alemany, bishop of Mon!
terey and later first archbishop of San Francisco, Cardinal McCloskey, Arch' >

i

WOMEN OF OHIO

o 1 1

bishop of New York, first American cardinal; Bishop De Goesbriand, first
bishop of Denver; Archbishop Spalding of Baltimore, great educator, writer
and orator.

Bishop Purcell in 1870 shared with the nuns and pupils his experiences
at the Vatican Council at which the dogma of the Infallibility of the Pope
was promulgated. Archbishop Purcell read in Latin the report of the minority
group, which declared against the opportuneness of its declaration at that
particular time. Upon the signing of the decree, declaring the Infallibility
of the Pope in matters of faith and morals, Archbishop Purcell publicly de-
clared from his pulpit in Cincinnati, “I am here to proclaim my belief in
the Infallibility of the Pope.”

It was the result of an eloquent sermon given by Archbishop Purcell in
the convent of Boulogne-sur-mer, that brought the Ursulines to Ohio to
locate in St. Martins and later in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Toledo, Tiffin and
Youngstown in Ohio.

The convent chaplain, Father Amadeus Rappe, later Bishop Rappe the
first Bishop of Cleveland had been reading for several years, stories of the
mission needs of Ohio as published in “The Annales” a publication published
in Lyons, France, by the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, an or-
ganization founded by Pauline Jaricot of Lyons, France. Archbishop Purcell
was a frequent contributor. Upon the occasion of a visit to the convent in
1838, he told the nuns that the object of his visit was “to persuade, if possible,
some generous persons to cross the seas and help in the gigantic task which
his own ecclesiastical authorities had lain upon him.”

“Europe must come to the aid of this new, young, struggling, United
States,” through which, it was the Bishop’s belief, “civilization was working
out its way to encircle the globe and complete the Kingdom of Christ.”

Previous to his talk, Father Rappe had read one of Archbishop Purcell’s
articles which told of the importance of Cincinnati as a commercial center;
the bishop’s own diocese ranking fourth in the States of the Union, attracting

( large numbers of European immigrants, nearly all poor but with undoubted
prospects. The Cincinnati congregation under him number eight thousand
Catholics, of whom four thousand are Germans, the others American or
French. He told of his little church and the people thronging there, kneeling
out in the muddy road ; how some Sisters of Charity have more than 25
orphans to care for besides other pupils ; but there is no school for boys. He
counts five French congregations in Ohio with every day French families
from Europe newly settling in the state.

The printed word was convincing and compelling and Archbishop Pur-
| cell’s personal visit and plea settled the matter for Father Rappe. Some months
I later he wrote to Archbishop Purcell of his desire to work in Ohio and then
I added, “perhaps you would want to invite a colony of Ursulines to come
i also.”

578

WOMEN OF OHIO

In the chapel the day Archbishop Purcell spoke was Julia Chatfield, a
daughter of an English Lord-Mayor and art dealer and a friend of Gains-
borough the artist.. She had been professed as an Ursuline nun just a year
before and was known as Sister Julia of the Assumption. His talk also
stirred within her a desire to sacrifice all for service in this far away vineyard
of the Lord. She had already made one of the greatest sacrifices to be de- !|
manded of a human being. Tutored in her own home of wealth and luxury
until she was 19 years of age, Julia, as was the custom of families of her
social status, was sent to the Ursulines at Boulogne to complete her schooling.
This was in 1828. The rule of not intruding upon the religious life of the
pupil not of the Catholic Faith was rigidly observed with Julia, but she was
insistent that she become a Catholic. She made it known to her father, who ;
immediately ordered Julia and her other six sisters home from Boulogne.
Julia was immediately launched into society and she became a much feted
“belle” but she would have none of it. She again appealed to her father, i
who remained adamant and threatened to disinherit her and to disown her. |
She accepted this ultimatum, left home, hired herself out as a governess in
a home where once she was welcomed as a guest.

Her desire to become a Catholic persisted. She left this position, pawned
the few belongings she was permitted to take from her home and with the
money purchased a ticket to France. The Ursulines refused to admit her but
did direct her to the home of a friend until such time as her father would
yield — he never did!

It was six years later, in 1834, before she was received into the Catholic j
Church and Bishop Rappe, then Father Rappe, chaplain at Boulogne, was
her god-father in baptism. She later was received into the Ursuline convent
and was professed in 1837, at the age of 28 years.

It was her own pleadings and importunings for permission of her religious
superiors to come to America, to “work among the Indians and heathens,”
that gave to Ohio Sister Julia of the Assumption.

From a home where she had been accustomed to having servants perform !
every menial service for her, voluntarily she came to a foreign land, among |
strangers to become a servant to others. She kept in close contact with her ,
religious superiors in France, and she told of the severe winters, “so cold j
that the wine for mass freezes in the chalice, and so severe that no man
would gather firewood for them, necessitating the nuns to go into the forests, j
to cut down trees, and haul them back for use as firewood, by cart, to the
convent.”

Laundry for the convent and the boarders was washed at Solomon’s Run.
the creek which flowed throughout the convent grounds. There were “good
stones there for rubbing,” she wrote and winter and summer, wash days were
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and Thursday, Friday and Saturday
were ironing days. J j /

WOMEN OF OHIO

579

Despite these inconveniences and hardships, the Sister wrote to France:

“Contrary to the forewarnings of our Cincinnati friends that St. Martins
was a desolate spot, what an agreeable surprise ! They had talked of the place
as a desert where we should die of ennui and hunger. We find it quite other-
wise; a solitude, yes, but very agreeable. We are surrounded with a forest
of trees; it is our horizon. Oh Ma Mere, it would excite the great ladies of
France, of Boulogne; they would open their purses for the poor Ursuline
Missionaries. With time and money we can do great things.

“A small table covered with a very white cloth, very neat and nicely
trimmed, is our altar; a statue of St. Joseph, our protector is under a globe;
two little porcelain vases of flowers and a Mater Dolorosa suspended over the
altar; and there you have all our riches. Now see if Holy Poverty does not
reign among us, and we are happy to own her queen.

“All I can say is, we hope to succeed in this place. The sixth of October
classes are to be open. We are going to have some ‘little’ girls — twenty-two
years old and even more! Good beginning, n’est ce-pas?”

How well they succeeded is described in Sister Monica’s book, “A Cross
in the Wilderness,” published by Longmans-Green Co., New York. The book
also tells the story of the Brown County Ursulines in Ohio and moreover it
records in an interesting manner, the history of Ohio and the history of the
Catholic Church of Ohio for the last half of the nineteenth century. The
title of the story is suggested by the first cross, erected in the wilderness of
1 Ohio. Incidentally, this cross now occupies a prominent spot in the convent
cemetery in Brown County. It was the first cross to adorn the first cathedral
built in Cincinnati. It later was given by Archbishop Purcell to adorn the
first church of St. Martins in Brown County and when this church was
■ razed, the cross was transferred to the convent cemetery. Much of the
material for this chapter has been gleaned from Sister Monica’s book.

From the Brown County Ursulines, four other foundations have been
established, one in 1857 in Springfield, 111. ; the second in 1859 in Charleston,
IS. C. ; the third in 1883 at Santa Rosa, Cal.; and the fourth in 1909 in Cin-
j cinnati, at 1339 E. McMillan St., where kindergarten, grade and high schools
are conducted.

The foundress of the first Ursuline Motherhouse in Cincinnati, Mother
j Baptista Freaner, died in June, 1939, at the age of 96 years.

She was once described by President Theodore Roosevelt as “a woman
| in a million.” Once a student in Brown County, while there she became a
convert to the Catholic Church. Following her graduation she returned to
her home in Harper’s Ferry, Md. At the outbreak of the Civil War she
j volunteered as a nurse and ministered to Federal and Confederate soldiers
I it Harpers Ferry, Gettysburg and Antietam. Following the war she returned
I o Brown County to dedicate her life to religion and was professed an
i Ursuline nun in 1870. Archbishop Purcell baptized her in the Catholic Faith

580

WOMEN OF OHIO

while a student at Brown County and later he baptized her father. Her
father and five brothers served in the Civil War.

Mother Fidelis Coleman also of Brown County was associated with Mother
Baptista in founding the Cincinnati motherhouse, which was approved by
Rome in 1909.

Their convent site was purchased from the Worcester and Harrison estates
in 1910. In addition to the kindergarten, elementary and college preparatory
school for girls, they teach also in several parish schools of Cincinnati.

Mother Baptista had an audience with Pope Leo XIII in 1900 and received
a special blessing from him at that time. Upon the occasion of her golden
jubilee of profession, Pope Benedict XV in 1920 cabled her congratulatory
greetings.

The Brown County Ursulines continue their boarding school near Fayette-
ville for young girls and their splendid educational program continues to
attract young women from many states.

In 1896 the Brown County Ursulines leased and later purchased the
Michael Ryan home at Oak and May Sts., Cincinnati, for a day school for
girls and boys. This successful venture necessitated another purchase in
1905 of the present property at Oak and Reading Rds., formerly the Winslow
property. It continues to be a day school for girls and boys, the curricula
conducting the girls to college preparatory work and the boys in preparation
for high school.

Five years after the arrival of Sister Julia of the Assumption from
Boulogne-sur-mer, she had the happiness to welcome to Cleveland, Ohio a
party of four Ursulines from Boulogne whom she knew, and one postulant,
Arabella Seymour.

In the archives of the Cleveland Ursulines are several documents written
in French which tell more than anything else of the contribution of the
Ursulines of Boulogne-sur-mer to the development of that part of Ohio in
which the Cleveland Ursulines have given nearly 90 years of continuous,
service.

One document is the contract entered into between the Nuns of Boulogne
and Bishop Amadeus Rappe, once their chaplain and now the first Bishop;
of the diocese of Cleveland. It was a document which had the approval off
Charles Cardinal de la Tour d ’Auvergne, Bishop of Arras, under whose spir
itual jurisdiction the LTrsulines were.

Translated the document reads:

“Here are the conditions proposed and agreed upon on both sides, anc
submitted to the approval of His Eminence, Cardinal de la Tour d’ Auvergne
Bishop of Arras.

“1. The Community of Boulogne-sur-mer promises to give for the founda
tion of the Ursulines at Cleveland, three professed choir religious of whoa
two English and one French, a professed lay sister, and a lay postulant.

WOMEN OF OHIO

581

“2. The Community of Boulogne will furnish the outfit of the designated
religious and all that will be necessary for the establishment of the Sacristy
of the monastery ; morever she will make a gift of ten thousand francs, she
will pay three thousand francs for the expense of the journey, and as much
as she will be able an annual sum of 1200 francs for five years.

“The first year of this sum (rent) must fall on the first of September, 1851.

“3. The Religious sent to the new foundation reserve unto themselves ex-
pressly the rights that their constitution gives them, relative to the Com-
munity of Boulogne, and reciprocally the said Community reserves unto
itself those that are granted them by the same constitutions.

“4. Msgr. Rappe, Bishop of Cleveland, promises on his side, to furnish the
new community of his episcopal city with a house suitable for the keeping
of a boarding school and proper to the cloister that the religious must keep.
He promises beside to provide for all needs, spiritual and temporal.’ ’

The other document was also in French and was from the Cardinal Arch-
bishop of Arras, granting permission for the Ursulines to come to Cleveland.
It reads :

“According to the request which has been made to me on the 22nd of
May, 1850, by the Reverend Mother Superior of the Community of the
Ursulines of Boulogne-sur-mer, to the effect that she be authorized to send
to Cleveland in Ohio, America, these Sisters:

“1. Theresa Young de Seraphine (English).

“2. Victorire Boudalier de St. Charles (French).

“3. Marie Beaumont de L’Annunciation (English) all three professed
religious of their monastery.

“4. Lastly one or two lay Sisters of the same house.

The said Religious destined for the foundation of a house of their
institute in said city of Cleveland.

“We give obedience and we authorize the above-named ladies chosen for
this purpose to go to the said city and to remain there for the time judged
proper for the projected foundation, giving permission, however to return
to the Community established at Boulogne, as contained in the Constitutions,
Chapter XV, ‘Of Foundations.’

“Given at Arras, May 23, 1850.

“(Signed) Charles Cardinal de la Tour d ’Auvergne Lauraguais
Bishop of Arras.”

Only two of these, Sister De Seraphine, a professed choir sister, and Sister
1 St. Benoit, a professed lay-religious, took advantage of the privilege of re-
turning to the mother house at Boulogne-sur-mer but this was not until 1862,

| after both had performed heroic labors for a firm foundation of the Ursulines
I in Cleveland. Sister De Seraphine had founded the Ursulines in Toledo also
; where she spent six years as foundress and superior. In addition, at the re-
i quest of Bishop Rappe, Sr. De Seraphine served temporarily as superior of

582

WOMEN OF OHIO

a new foundation of the Sisters of Charity, which had been made in Cleveland
in 1851 for the purpose of carrying on hospital work. The two Sisters of
Charity of St. Augustine who came from Boulogne-sur-mer, to start the work,
found it necessary to return to France, and the two postulants who had ac-
companied them, having been trained in the novitiate of the Ursulines, were
believed to be too young to take over the important work of a new religious
Foundation. She left her Ursuline convent to take over her duties at St.
Joseph’s Hospital in Cleveland’s West Side, then known as Ohio City. She
served here a year until another Ursuline, Sister Ursula had been professed
and had pronounced her religious vows.

The day of her religious profession Sister Ursula was asked by Bishop
Rappe to leave the Ursulines and to become the foundress and the first
superior of the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine. It was a sacrifice which
she willingly made in obedience.

Sister Ursula was Catherine Bisonnette of Sandusky, Ohio. She had
rendered magnificent service during the cholera epidemic which swept through
Ohio in the late forties. She was the first American postulant for the
Ursulines of Cleveland and she had for an associate postulant, Arabella
Seymour, a native of Oxfordshire, England, who was educated by the Ursulines
at Boulogne-sur-mer. Arabella was a convert to the Catholic Faith and for
13 years before coming to America conducted a private school or seminary
for girls in Lille, France, in which school the children of the elite of Lille and
nearby towns, were enrolled. She was proficient in art and music and was
an accomplished harpist. She was given the name of Sister St. Austin.

Cleveland Ursulines, however, were not to be denied the services of the
Bisonnette family. Two years later, a niece, Elizabeth Bisonnette, in whose
home Bishop Rappe frequently visited in his missionary travels through
Ottawa County, came to the Ursulines, was professed an Ursuline nun in
1856 and spent 67 years in the Ursuline Order in Cleveland. She was given
the name of Sister St. Ann. Of the other three who came from France to re-
main in Ohio, Mother Charles of French birth, died in 1861 ; Mother Annun-
ciation, of English birth in 1881 ; Mother Austin, also of English birth, fol-
lowed in death in 1898. None of these had ever seen their native lands since
coming to Ohio — it was a self imposed exile for them.

The nuns departed from France, July 16, 1850, accompanied by Bishop
Rappe, once their chaplain, and now their bishop in the new field of labors
in Cleveland diocese. They arrived in New York, Aug. 6, and were agreeably
surprised to be greeted at the pier by Archbishop John Hughes, Archbishop
of New York, who welcomed them to America and to Ohio. On Aug. 8, they
arrived in Cleveland and took possession of the former Judge Cowles resi-
dence on Euclid Ave., now the site of Taylor’s store, one of the large mer - 1
cantile establishments of Cleveland.

The Cowles mansion was a two story brick building. Also on the site were j
a stable, a barn and a carriage house. The carriage house later became the

WOMEN OF OHIO

583

convent chapel and the carriage door, for many years was the refectory table
in the Nuns’ dining room. The barn and stable were fitted up for the first
free parish school, one for boys and one for girls. On Sept. 8, 1850, the first
free school opened with an enrollment of 300 pupils, boys and girls.

Mother Ursula, superior of the Ursulines at Boulogne-sur-mer, chose
well in selecting Mother Mary of the Annunciation as the superior of the
first group to come to Cleveland. She served in this capacity 25 years. As
Mary Beaumont, she entered the Ursuline school at the age of 14 years, having
received her early education from the Dominican nuns in England. She was
a member of an old Norman English Catholic family of wealth and culture
and every educational opportunity was provided her, another sister and
five brothers. Her sister later became a nun in the convent of the Sisters of
Providence in England.

Following the completion of her studies at Boulogne, she returned to
England, participated in the social life, and then retired from the world to
become an Ursuline nun. She pronounced her vows in 1846 before Cardinal
de la Tour d ’Auvergne, Bishop of Arras, and four years later, this same
prelate gave the necessary permission that was to send Mother Mary Annun-
ciation to America and to Cleveland.

On board ship, Mother Annunciation set up her academy, to assist some
young French seminarians, who were enroute to Cleveland to prepare for
the priesthood, and later to serve in the mission work of the new diocese.
Classes in English were held daily on shipdeck.

She proved to be a real “mother” to the lonely young seminarians, and
in the days that followed their arrival in Cleveland there were many occasions
when gifts of delicacies in the French style from the convent to the seminary,
helped to alleviate the homesickness which frequently came over the sem-
inarians.

She was not only foundress and superior, but took her place in the class
rooms as well — and the nuns in charge of the household tasks could always
count upon “Mother” lending a hand in preparation for dinner and other
household duties.

The story of the pioneer days of the Ursulines in Cleveland and of the
establishment of the parish school system is intertwined with the history of
Sister St. Austin, for it was Sister St. Austin who sacrificed her entire fortune
for the spiritual and material advancement of her religious community.

Sister St. Austin was the eldest child of a wealthy English family of
the Anglican Faith. Every advantage that wealth could provide was given
he]*. There was no objection on the part of her family when she embraced
the Catholic Faith, in fact, her family, after she had left the European con-
tinent to come to America, had continued to send her an annual income. It
was her patrimony that enabled the Ursulines to erect on their property the

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WOMEN OF OHIO

first permanent school for parish use, two one story brick buildings, one
for boys and one for girls. It was the beginning of the parochial school
system for the diocese of Cleveland and for 17 years the Ursulines conducted
these schools, financing them and staffing them.

Under Sister St. Austin’s direction, a school of music and art was founded
with the opening of the academy a month after their arrival from France,
and soon became as popular as was her school in Lille. Catholics and non-
Catholics from all sections of the state and from beyond the state enrolled
as students in the boarding school.

The Gregorian chant, which in recent years is being revived, was the only
music sung by the Nuns’ choir which Sister St. Austin directed and this chant
she introduced into her school of music.

Yet this great artist, woman of the world and woman of wealth, who
might have chosen to domineer over the members, because it was her money
that was sustaining the Sisters over a period of years, shared the poverty
of her community. She was known to use the sand that was strewn over the
stone floor of the convent with which to wash her hands, in order to save
soap. The tiniest scrap of paper was saved — if not enough upon which to
write a letter — at least enough to use for making notes.

She kept a scrap book of verses and in it she copied choice poetry or
prose which came to her attention in her reading. The last entry was never
finished — death had called her on Oct. 22, 1898, before the sentence was
finished, but it read: “The Resurrection is one of the most comforting truths
connected with Our Savior’s life. On the long and ...”

When one day a letter came from England informing her that the family
estate was exhausted and that no more income would be forthcoming, Sister St.
Austin, turning to her Sisters, said: “Today I receive the last of my father’s
patrimony. My one regret is that I have nothing more to give to my Sisters.”
She had given her all, her family, her native England, her opportunity
for a brilliant social life and for a professional or artistic career to come to
Ohio, to endure untold hardships and privations, that the children of pioneer
builders of Ohio might have the advantages of a Christian education and might
come to enjoy the great gift of Faith which she possessed.

That she trained for citizenship is attested to by the fact that America’s
centennial celebration in 1876 recognized her contribution by naming her one
of the honorary vice presidents of the women’s department — this woman of
the cloister, who had retired voluntarily from the world, yet in her retire-
ment was doing so much to make the world a better place in which to live.

From the very beginning of the Ursuline educational system, religion was
woven into every hour of the school day. The three R’s were imparted with a
thoroughness and later Bishop Ignatius Horstmann, fourth bishop of Cleve-
land, wrote of the Ursulines’ educational system:

“The Three R’s have always been thoroughly taught ; a clear grammatical
knowledge of English has been a specialty. History, taught from a Catholic

WOMEN OF OHIO

585

viewpoint, has received special attention. A wide knowledge of the best litera-
ture has ever been imparted. In a word, all the branches of a broad and
liberal education are taught, and the predominant features in their teaching
is a practical thoroughness.”

In 1853 the Ursulines were asked to staff St. Patrick’s parish school on the
West Side of Cleveland, which was then known as Ohio City. The Ursulines
were a cloistered order and hence were not permitted by their rule to go
beyond their own convent walls. Bishop Rappe however did not allow this
to interfere. He sought permission from Rome to have this rule mitigated so
that the nuns in a closed carriage could go forth daily to teach in St. Patrick’s
school. In October 1853 they took over St. Patrick’s school and for 25 years
thereafter as new parish schools were established, Ursulines were there to
welcome the children to classes. Their free school on the convent site was
not discontinued until 1867 when St. John’s Cathedral school was opened and
the Ursulines placed in charge. St. Patrick’s school, their first school beyond
the cloister, continues in charge of the Ursulines — a period of 86 years.

The cathedral school is now used as a training school for the Catholic
Sisters college, now located in the Cathedral School building.

In the letter which Bishop Rappe wrote to the Boulogne convent, inform-
ing Mother Ursula, the superior there, of the dispensation received from Rome,
permitting the Sisters to teach in St. Patrick’s school he described it thus:
“They (The Ursulines) will send from their house in the morning three teach-
ers with their dinner in their pocket, and after the evening class they will
be bought back to the convent in a closed carriage.”

Lawrence Wagner, sexton of the cathedral, was the driver of the carriage
to and from the new parish school. Today in the diocese of Cleveland, the
Cleveland Ursulines teach in 25 parish schools ; conduct three academies, one
at the motherhouse, E. 55th St., another, Sacred Heart Academy in East
Cleveland, and the third, Villa Angela, beautifully located on a site overlook-
ing Lake Erie.

In 1854 the Ursuline schools were incorporated as an Educational Asso-
I ciation under the laws of the State of Ohio and as early as 1871 its schools
[ were given the status of a college. By an act of the State Legislature it was
empowered to “confer all such degrees and honors as are conferred by col-
leges and universities of the United States.” The college was then located
on the Euclid Ave. site. It has since been transferred to a new site at Over-
look Rd. and Cedar Rd., in Cleveland Heights.

Mrs. Estelle Smith Cunnea, prominent in Cleveland’s social and club life,
who died in 1939, was the first to receive a B. A. degree from Ursuline College,
i This was in 1872. She was organizer and first president of the Ursuline
Alumnae.

In 1878 came the first move from Euclid Ave. with the purchase of a lake
I site near Euclid, then known as Nottingham. Tt is less than an hour’s ride

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today from the motherhouse at 55th St. to Nottingham but in 1878 it meant
taking a train at five o’clock in the morning to come to Cleveland, after a
long walk through mud and mire to the station.

A girls academy, day and boarding school, were started there and in
1886 another building was erected to establish St. Joseph’s seminary for boys.
It was the wish of Bishop Gilmour, then bishop of the diocese, that the same
educational advantages be afforded for boys as were being provided for girls.

The year 1890 saw the need for further expansion and the Euclid Ave. site
was sold and the present site at 55th and Scovill Ave. was purchased. At that
time the Sisters described the location as “sufficiently removed from the busi-
ness part to avoid the dangers incident to crowded thoroughfares.” An entirely
new convent was built and it was not until 1893 that the Nuns took possession.

In 1900 East Cleveland was developing into a residential suburb with no
parish schools. The Ursulines were asked to establish a day school for ele-
mentray and high school students.

In 1913 the first religious in Ohio to spend 60 years in the religious life,
Mother St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception celebrated the occasion amid
great ceremony. As Mary Imping, a daughter of a German immigrant family,
she became attached to the Ursulines immediately upon their arrival in Cleve-
land. She had come to Cleveland from Germany just a few years before the
arrival of the Ursulines in Cleveland.

A year after their arrival in Cleveland, she entered the Ursulines and
was professed in 1853.

She became one of the first Religious in Ohio to receive an honorary
degree. In 1913 Duquesne University of Pittsburgh conferred the honor of
Doctor of Letters upon her in recognition of her “keen intellect, rare mental
endowment and her long years of service in the educational field.”

She was the first superior of the newly established Villa Angela academy
opened in 1878. The Immaculate Conception perpetual scholarship at Villa
Angela is a gift of her former Villa Angela pupils, given to her on her 60th
anniversary of profession.

In the convent grounds at 55th St., is a shrine dedicated to Our Lady of
Prompt Succor, and erected to commemorate Sister St. Mary’s 60 years in
religion.

Mother Mary of the Sacred Heart, who assisted in founding the Toledo
and Tiffin convents and who assisted also in founding Villa Angela, observed
her 60th anniversary of profession in 1915. She died in 1917. Sister St. Ann,
formerly Elizabeth Bisonnette of Ottawa County and a niece of Sister Ursula,
the first American postulant, observed her 60th anniversary in 1916. Sister
St. Ann could recall the early missionary experiences of Father Rappe who
visited their home. In many instances, the Bisonnette home had to be used
for a church. She died in 1923 at the age of 91 years.

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587

Mother Ligouri who assisted with the foundation of the Tiffin convent
had been a member of the Ursulines 62 years, and died a few months before
the 60th anniversary of her profession. (Nuns date their anniversary of pro-
fession from the day they pronounce their final vows and not from the day
upon which they enter the convent to take up the religious life.)

Meanwhile the Ursulines were not only staffing the parish schools of
Cleveland, but when calls came to establish foundations beyond, they were
quick to respond. The first call came in 1854 from Bishop Rappe to establish
a convent in Toledo. Within one month after the request had been made, on
Dec. 12, 1854, four Ursulines with Mother de Seraphine as superior, arrived
in Toledo. Despite the ravages of the “Maumee” fever which was wiping out
entire families, the Sisters braved the dangers of this dread disease and within
four days after their arrival in Toledo, they were instructing 200 children.

The splendid Marymanse college in Toledo, Ursuline academy and Lady-
glen day school for boys and girls at Grand Rapids, Ohio, as well as the
summer camp for boys and girls at Grand Rapids-on-the-Maumee, bears wit-
ness to the great contribution of the Toledo Ursulines to the educational work
of Ohio.

The Ursulines came to Toledo about 14 years after Bishop Rappe had
made his first request for Ursuline nuns . . . this first request went forth to
Boulogne-sur-mer immediately upon his arrival in Ohio to do mission work.
At that time he requested 15,000 francs from the Boulogne convent to help
finance the work but the Boulogne nuns could neither spare the Sisters nor
the money at the time. It is a tribute to his love for his first mission field,
Toledo, and to the persistency of Bishop Rappe, and his great admiration for
the educational work of the Ursulines, that he continued to seek their services
for Toledo until his request was granted — even if it did require 14 years of
pleadings.

Within the decade following the Toledo foundation, a second call came,
this from the nearby city of Tiffin, Ohio. This was in 1863 and again the
Cleveland Ursulines responded by sending three nuns and Mother Joseph who
was named superior.

Sister M. Maxime, Sister M. Scholastica and Sister M. Alexis, a novice,
were in this company and Sister M. of the Sacred Heart and Sister M. Francis
Xavier who helped in establishing the Toledo convent were directed to join
! the Tiffin group. Our Lady of the Rosary academy, Tiffin, Ohio, was opened
Oct. 5, 1863, within one week after the arrival of the Ursulines. It continues
j today to be one of the leading educational institutions in the diocese of Toledo.

In 1874 the great industrial Mahoning Valley was attracting many Irish
i Catholic families and the pastor of the mother parish, St. Columba’s, appealed
to Bishop Richard Gilmour, second bishop of the diocese of Cleveland, for
i help in his educational work. A school had been established and was in
charge of lay teachers. While it served its purpose, it did not adequately meet
the religious needs of the people.

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Cleveland again responded and sent Mother M. Theresa as superior with
Sister M. Angela, Sister St. John, Sister Felix and Sister St. James. As in j
Cleveland so in Youngstown, the Ursulines pioneered in the parish school
program and as the city grew and new parishes were established with schools,
Ursuline nuns were there to welcome the students.

About 1908 an academy was established in their convent at West Rayen
Ave., on the site which the Sisters have occupied since first coming to Youngs-
town. Several rooms of the convent were used, and within a very few years
it became necessary to seek larger quarters, and a new site. The Old Chauncey
Andrew property on Wick Ave., a mansion that had welcomed within its doors
many of the social elite of the nation, men of finance and industry, was pur-
chased by the Nuns. This mansion was then used for an academy and the
barn on the estate was transformed into class rooms. Still more room became j
necessary and a new building was erected on the site. The Andrew mansion j
without its elaborate furnishings now serves as a novitiate for the Ursulines {
and a day elementary school for boys and girls. The academy has since be-
come a Central Catholic High School for boys and girls.

The Sisters teach in 11 parish schools in Youngstown and vicinity and I
give religious instruction in seven parishes where there are no parish schools. :

In the early days as additional demands were made upon them for parish
school work, Toledo nuns came to supplement the staff. Mother M. Lawrence i
McCaffrey of Toledo came in 1878 and served as Mother superior for more
than a quarter of a century.

When the influenza epidemic struck Youngstown in 1918, the nuns for j
the first time left their convent cloister in response to the city’s appeal for
help in care of the sick. They went into homes where entire families lay ill, I
and not onlv nursed them, but rendered necessarv services in the home. Thev
served in the emergency hospitals, hastily erected in vantage points of the
city. Cleveland Ursulines did likewise, serving night and day in homes and
in hospitals. !

Cleveland Ursulines again parted with some of their members when in
October, 1884, just ten months after Mother Amadeus had left the Toledo t
convent for Montana, Mother St. Joseph, who had established the Tiffin con-
vent in 1863, with a Miss Henry, a postulant, left for Miles City, Montana to
aid Mother Amadeus. Miss Henry became the first Ohio postulant for the
Montana mission fields, and she was given the name of Sister St. Clara. These
two immediately upon their arrival opened a boarding and parochial school in
Miles City. Mother Joseph returned after 12 years of service, much against
the wishes of city and government officials, one of whom said “I would rather
see two thirds of the city depart, than to have Mother St. Joseph leave her
work among the Indians.” Sister St. Clara continued until her death in 1915.

In 1886 Mother St. Bernard and Mother St. Thomas from the Cleveland I
convent joined with Ursulines from Toledo and Tiffin to help in the fast

WOMEN OF OHIO

589

growing Montana mission work. Mother St. Thomas spent 50 years in the
Indian missions, working among the Cheyennes, the Crows, the Blackfeet,
the Gros Ventre and the Assinaboine Indians. She died in 1936. Although
she shirked no responsibility, be the task menial or otherwise, the work for
which she was most distinguished was her instruction in music. She had the
rare privilege of teaching three generations of Indian children.

One has but to read the history of the Ursulines in Ohio to appreciate the
truth in the tribute paid to the Cleveland Ursulines in 1925 upon the occasion
of their 75th anniversary of founding in Cleveland. On that occasion, The Rt.
Rev. Msgr. Francis T. Moran, D. D., then pastor of St. Patrick’s parish, in
which parish the Ursulines have taught 89 years paid this tribute:

“Oh, what noble sacrifices there were in those gentle women: Oh, woman,
gentle in nature, braver than your counterpart, man, how often have you
put him to shame in the completeness of your sacrifice.”

On that occasion in 1925 for the Jubilee mass were used the same mass
equipment and the same priests’ garments which were used for the offering
of the first mass in the convent chapel on Euclid Ave., in 1850. Only the
original altar formed from the trunks and suitcases of the nuns was missing.
In its place for the diamond jubilee was a beautifully hand carved altar of
wood.

The chasuble and dalmatics worn by the priests were made by an Ursuline
nun. An Ursuline artist nun painted upon the cross center of the Chasuble a
copy of Corregio’s Madonna of the Staircase and around this was painted a
garland of rose buds. The same designs were worked into the dalmatics. Tt
was later revealed that the rose buds represented one for each member of
the community. The roses on the Mass vestments represented the professed
nuns and those on the Benediction veil represented the novices and postulants.

This celebration took place during the absence in Rome of Bishop Joseph
Schrembs, fifth bishop of the Cleveland diocese. Upon his return he wrote to
I the Ursulines, excerpts of which follow :

“Your sisters were the pioneers in the educational field of the diocese of
Cleveland. Your lives and your work have been most intimately interwoven
with the life and spiritual work of the diocese. T cannot help bnt feel that
the diocese itself owes you a public recognition of your services and what is
| more, owes a public thanksgiving to God, the Giver of all good gifts, for the
i blessing of your coming.

“Such a celebration cannot fail to focus the attention of all the faithful
! of the diocese upon the glory and the power and the wonderful fruitfulness
of the religious life and thisi is indeed the lesson which our generation needs
to learn.

“As the fifth Bishop of Cleveland and the heir to the rich inheritance of
I the past, 1 feel it my sacred duty to recognize in a most public and solemn
thanksgiving to God and gratitude to your community, the glory of these

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past seventy-five years. It is my wish therefore, that on December twenty-
eighth at nine-thirty in the morning the Diamond Jubilee of the coming of
the Ursulines to the diocese of Cleveland be commemorated through pontifical
High Mass of thanksgiving at which all the Ursuline Sisters will attend, and
to which they will invite the Sister communities of the Diocese in a spirit of
Fraternal love.”

Clergy and members from the different religious communities of women
from the diocese and adjoining dioceses, joined with the Ursulines on that day
in this distinctive tribute extended them by Bishop Schrembs. The Ursulines
of Ohio eagerly look forward to the year 1945 — when 100 years of Angela
Merici’s teaching system in Ohio will be fittingly observed at Brown County
The year 1939 saw the Ursulines the world over sharing in the joy and the
glory of the tri-centennial of the Ursulines on the North American continent.

There is another Ursuline foundation in Ohio, this located at Caldwell,
Ohio, and dates its origin to the Ursuline convent in Germany. It has been
in Ohio since 1913 and its most recent recruits, three of them, have come
from Germany, forced to flee because of the Nazi persecution of religious.

These Sisters teach in several parish schools located in Columbus, Fulda
and Burkhart in Ohio. Its motherhouse in America was in Omaha. Neb.

CATHOLIC MEDICAL MISSIONARIES

A former Presbyterian missionary in India, Dr. Agnes McLaren, is re-
sponsible for the most recent of Catholic religious orders, which has already
attracted one Ohio woman, Dr. Helen Lalinsky, a full fledged doctor of
medicine.

Dr. Lalinsky was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1908, and later moved to
Canton, Ohio, where she was educated in the parish schools there. She studied
as a laboratory technician in Mercy Hospital, Canton, conducted by the Sisters
of Charity of St. Augustine, a Cleveland religious foundation.

The Catholic Medical Missionaries had been organized only two years
in 1927, when Dr. Lalinsky, now Sister Alma, enrolled as a member. After
her enrollment there she was permitted to study in Trinity College, Wash-
ington, D. C., a college started in 1900 by the Sisters of Notre Dame de
Namur of Reading, Ohio. She took her premedical course at Trinity and in
September, 1931, she entered Women’s Medical College, in Philadelphia,
where she received her M.D. degree in 1935. She served her interneship in
Misericordia Hospital in Philadelphia from 1935-1936 and in 1937 she took
special work in Georgetown University Hospital, Georgetown, Washington.
D. C.

In March of 1938, she left for India, where she is in charge of Holy Family
Hospital in Rawalpindi, India.

A Catholic missionary Bishop, Bishop Wagner, prefect Apostolic oil

I

Kashmir and Kafristan, India, met Dr. McLaren one day and said to her, “111

my 16 years of work in the North of India, I have never seen the face olj

WOMEN OF OHIO

591

a Mohammedan woman.” Dr. McLaren, a missionary of many years exper-
ience, knew the reason why. The religious laws of India and its customs
ruled that only women could minister women and bring relief and Christian
influence into their lives.

Dr. McLaren was then 60 years of age. She became a Catholic and at
the age of 72 years she returned to India to found a hospital. It was easy
enough to found a hospital, but where to get women doctors and nurses to
staff it. She traveled through Scotland, England and Ireland to find one
woman doctor who would volunteer. She was not successful. She had no
difficulty finding Sisters who were willing to undertake this pioneer work,
but the rules of religious forbade them to study medicine with the view of
practicing it. Dr. McLaren made five trips to Rome, between 1910 and 1913,
to seek permission of church authorities for a dispensation from this rule,
but with no success at that time. Undaunted, she decided to seek a lay-
woman, not bound by religious vows and Dr. Anna Dengel from the Austrian
Tyrol country responded.

The fact that India was a British colony suggested to Dr. McLaren that
Dr. Dengel might better study medicine in an English speaking country and
so her medical degree was obtained in Ireland after nine years of preparation
for it.

Dr. Dengel came to America in 1924 and met Rev. Michael Mathis, then
superior of the Holy Cross Mission Seminary, Washington, D. C. He was
interested in the work, and together they founded the Society of Catholic
Medical Missionaries. Still the dispensation for Nuns to participate in com-
plete medical course did not come. In 1936, however, the Sacred Congregation
for the Propagation of the Faith at Rome issued instructions which had far
reaching importance in the matter of maternity and child welfare care. Ex-
cerpts of this proclamation follow :

“This Sacred Congregation would like to see new religious institutes
for women founded who will dedicate themselves principally to health work,
making due provision for the necessary safeguards. These Institutes must
be founded and developed ad norman juris communis . . .

“These new duties demand a proper technical and spiritual preparation.
The Sisters should obtain certificates as doctors or nurses. Above all, they
should be safeguarded by special spiritual protections which will be determined
by the superiors. The religious must see a noble expression of Christian
charity in this delicate service, a charitable work destined to ease bodily
misery and to open the way for the grace of Redemption.”

In the missions now, Catholic women can and do combine the religious
life with that of medicine and nursing sisters are even permitted to include
obstetrics in their ministrations.

Once again the persistency of woman won: The Sacred Congregation’s
proclamation gave this as its reason for its decision: “It has always been
the practice of this Sacred Congregation to have the methods of the Apostolate

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to conform to the varying needs of time and place. Several missionary ordin-
aries have brought to the attention of the Holy See the necessity of making
more appropriate provision for the health of mothers and infants/ ’ It ful-
filled the dream of Dr. Agnes McLaren for Women doctors in India — women
doctors bound by religious vows.

FOREIGN MISSION SISTERS OF ST. DOMINIC

The Foreign Missionary Sisters of St. Dominic, more familiarly known
as The Mary knoll Sisters, is a religious institute which has had phenomenal
growth in the short time of its existence. A study club inspired the or-
ganization.

Granted Papal approbation to organize as a Religious Congregation in
1920 and to work in the missions of the Far East, the religious Institute today
numbers more than 500 members. Its community might well be called a
miniature League of Nations as among its members are native Koreans,
Chinese, Japanese, Filipinos, Australians, Canadians, Belgians and American
born of many nationalities. The scope of work of this religious community
is so varied that it provides an avenue of service for any Catholic woman
religiously inclined and interested in foreign missions.

Among its members are graduates in medicine, pharmacy, nursing, trained
teachers and journalists, women of special business experience, one for in-
stance a former assistant manager of a Chamber of Commerce.

It all came about because Sister Mary Joseph Rogers, the first superior,
while an instructor at Smith College, Northampton, Mass., was told that as
a Catholic she should be doing something to organize the Catholic students
attending Smith College. This came from one of the non-Catholic professors.

She did organize the Catholic Students. They expressed a desire to form
a study club and the first subject to be studied was the mission work of their
Church.

As its first leader, Miss Rogers was directed to the Society for the
propagation of the Faith, to secure a study club outline and material.

There she met the Rev. James Anthony Walsh, then diocesan director
of the Faith and later organizer and first president of the Catholic Foreign
Missionary Society, and now Bishop Walsh. By the time the study club had
finished its first year, three of the class, including Miss Rogers, decided they
would like to do something for the missions. They offered their services to
the new Catholic Foreign Missionary Society which had been organized only
a year before. They were assigned to secretarial work in the office of the
society and later others joined with them. In 1912 they were given a home
on the Hudson River site of the society, now known as Maryknoll-on-the-
Hudson. They called themselves Teresians, in honor of St. Teresa, and while
they did follow a religious rule, as yet Papal approval of a religious foundation
had not been given them. The present archbishop of Cincinnati, Archbishop

WOMEN OF OHIO

593

John T. McNicholas, visiting Maryknoll, called on the Teresians and recom-
mended that they unite with an already established religious community. He
enrolled them as Dominican Tertiaries and later sent Dominican Nuns to
train them in the Dominican Rule. Three Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate
Heart Convent at Scranton, Pa., had previously come to Maryknoll to remain
two years and to train them in the religious novitiate.

In 1920 Papal approbation was received and in 1921 the first group started
out for the mission fields of South China. They adopted the name of Foreign
Mission Sisters of St. Dominic.

Since that time, the work engaged in the Far East is as all embracing
as the needs of society. For instance, in Hong Kong where the wealthy
Chinese girl can be, and is a powerful force for good or evil, the Sisters
conduct a school that prepares the students for Oxford examinations.

In Loting, South China, where the custom of abandoning babies is widely
practiced they conduct a nursery and orphanage for these waifs.

In Manila, where the poor suffer from undernourishment, overcrowding
and the merciless heat of the tropics, they conduct a visiting nurses’ service
in homes and in hospitals, besides distributing nourishing food and medicine
to those in need.

In Shanghai, Mercy Hospital for the mentally ill, erected by Lo Pa Hong,
called the John D. Rockefeller of China because of his great wealth and his
generous gifts to charity, gives the Sisters an opportunity of alleviating the
sufferings of the mentally ill, and also shows the more fortunate people that
the charity of Christ extends to those most neglected of the afflicted. Lo Pa
Hong was assassinated about a year ago.

In Korea where the education of women has been singularly neglected,
there is a school which divides its time between the three R’s and industrial
work, so that by acquiring the rudiments of learning and a self-supporting
trade, the young women will gain security.

A work which they consider of great importance is the training of native
sisterhoods, not an easy task in view of the fact that not only is marriage
universal for women in most Oriental countries, but girls are bought and
sold like any other property, sometimes as slaves and sometimes as brides.

The giving in marriage usually occurs between the ages of 12 and 14
years. This means that the fostering of religious vocations must begin with
the girl before she has reached 12 years.

The Maryknoll Sisters have been in Korea 15 years and on June 27,
1938, they witnessed the first group of Maryknoll novices, one Japanese and
15 Koreans who were given the habit of the Maryknoll. This new foundation
is known as the novitiate of Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

It is part of the mission program of the Catholic Church to work towards
the development of a native Sisterhood and priesthood in the mission lands,
as it is generally recognized that one who is of the people, who is acquainted

594

WOMEN OF OHIO

with their customs and culture, can best work with the people of the mission
lands. Consequently, The American Maryknoll Sisters do not attempt to
westernize the people whom they have come to serve, to teach them English
or American ways. On the contrary, it is the Sisters who adjust themselves
to the new surroundings, not only learning the different languages and
dialects, but accepting their mode of living to a great extent.

The Maryknoll Sisters have even taken a course in Girl Scout work and
have Girl Scout programs in Korea, Manchuria, Hawaii, the Phillippines and
the Japanese schools on the West Coast. The Sisters trained in the Girl Scout
Center in New York.

Ohio has 17 women engaged in the work. The first to enter Maryknoll
from Ohio in 1920, shortly after it had been established as a religious con-
gregation, was Freda Beez, of Defiance, Ohio, now Sister M. Genevieve. At
present she is at the Maryknoll Motherhouse, but for 10 years, from 1927 to
1937, she served in Korea, part of the time as regional superior in charge of
13 convents and 59 Sisters, carrying on work in hospitals, dispensaries,
schools, orphanages, old folks’ homes and in social service.

Sister Mary Paulita (Miss Mary Rose Hoffman) of Cincinnati, a member
since 1933, a graduate of Our Lady of the Angels High School, Cincinnati,
and a student at the Teachers College, Cincinnati Athenaeum, for a year and
one-half, is now in Tung Shek, China, in the Centre House and Language
School conducted by the Sisters. She is making a study of the languages in
preparation for a new type of work, that of visiting Chinese women in their
homes, and conducting Catechumen classes in their convent quarters for
women and children.

Sister Mary Ann (Mary Fuchs), of Chillicothe, Ohio, was assistant man-
ager of the Chamber of Commerce at Chillicothe before enrolling as a Mary-
knoll nun and is now at the Maryknoll house preparing for Far East work.

Sister Mary Lelia Makra, graduate of Ursuline Academy, Cleveland and
former teacher of commercial subjects in the same school, is now in Fushun,
Manchukuo as superior of the convent there. She was graduated from Mt.
St. Vincent’s College, New York, and was a teacher in the Maryknoll School
for Japanese in Los Angeles before leaving, in 1934, for Fushun. Following
her arrival in Fushun, she studied the languages and served as an instructor in
mathematics and other subjects to the native novices in Fushun.

Sister David Marie (Marie H. Scanlon), of Cincinnati, is at present
superior of St. James Academy and Normal School at Mallabon, Phillippine
Islands. She is a graduate of Mt. St. Joseph’s College, Cincinnati.

Sister Marie Juliette (Alma Putfoff), of Dayton, Ohio, is a teacher at
St. Anthony’s Convent School, Kalihi, Kai, Oahu, T. H.

Sister M. Jude (M. Teresa Babione), Fremont, Ohio, is a teacher at the
Maryknoll Center in Dairen, Manchukuo.

Sister M. Aquinas (Sarah McKenna), of Cleveland, is with the Japanese
Mission School in Los Angeles; Sister Elizabeth Marie( Elizabeth Bumbaehb

,

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WOMEN OF OHIO

595

Fairport Harbor, is at Maryknoll Sanatorium, Monrovia, Cal. ; Sister Anita
(Anna Fritz), of Frank, Ohio, does household work at the preparatory
seminary. Mountain View, Cal.

Sister M. Dorothea (Victoria Smith), Tiffin, Ohio; Sister M. Alacoque
(Rose Karst), Cleveland; Sister M. Carolyn (Lillian Puls), Cincinnati, are
engaged in clerical work at the Maryknoll motherhouse at Maryknoll, N. Y.,
and Sister Rachel (Agnes Jackson), Mansfield, Ohio, is doing clerical work
at St. Paul’s Hospital, Manila, Phillippine Islands. Sister M. Catherine (Helen
A. Carter), of Norwood, Ohio, is assistant superior at Maryknoll convent,
Clark Summit, Pa.; Sister Rose Miriam (Margaret Dagg), is a student at
the Maryknoll Training School, and Sister Lillian Antoinette (Lillian Kiel-
basinski), of Toledo, is a nurse at the Maryknoll Novitiate.

CHRISTCHILD SOCIETY

Since 1916 Cleveland Catholic women, members of the Christchild society,
have been carrying on a piece of work that is fulfilling the objectives laid
down by the foundress, Miss Mary Merrick, 53 years ago. It is to provide
layettes for needy mothers, first communion outfits for needy girls, and
especially to interest themselves in the care of needy children.

Miss Merrick, an invalid since early childhood, has continued to be the
leader of this organization which she founded in Washington, D. C., in 1886.

It did not take on organization form however until 1896 and in 1905 it
was incorporated “to improve by useful instruction and charitable relief the
conditions of the poor children of the District of Columbia.”

Miss Merrick is regarded as the pioneer in social welfare work, as we
know it today.

It all came about because, during the Christmas season, Miss Merrick
asked a small colored boy who ran errands for the family to write a letter
to the Christchild and to tell Him what was wanted for Christmas. The little
boy not only wrote a letter for himself, but for all of his brothers and sisters
and his playmates and so as not to disappoint any of them, Miss Merrick
asked the help of her friends in giving at least one gift to each child in honor
of the Christchild.

When the society was incorporated its program was divided into three
parts — Health, Character Building and Relief.

The late Mrs. Mabel Higgins Mattingly, a former member of the staff
of the School of Social Science of Western Reserve University and later direc-
tor of the School of Social Service of Fordham University, New York, came
to Cleveland in 1916 to reside. While attending Trinity college in Washington,
D. C., she became interested in social welfare work, and was particularly
impressed by the work of the Christchild society in Washington. She sug-
gested similar type of work for Cleveland Catholic women.

596

WOMEN OF OHIO

There were 12 who met with Mrs. Mattingly. Among them the following
served as president: Miss Florence Mason, now assistant director of the
Catholic Charities Bureau, Cleveland ; Miss Genevieve Maloney, assistant
director of Merrick Settlement House ; and Mrs. Norma Brennen Cogan, Mrs.
Isabel Dittoe O’Reilly, Mrs. Henrietta Weatherhead Hendrickson, Mrs. Adele
Farron Hurst and Mrs. Ethel Monroe Van Allen. Mrs. Mattingly was the
first president.

From providing Christmas programs and gifts to needy children in institu-
tions the work extended to service units during the World War, then to the
making of layettes for needy mothers, and providing complete First Com-
munion outfits for girls. “Everything new for the new baby” is the slogan
of the members, and a complete layette even to the washcloth and soap is
provided. No two dresses are alike for the first communicants. Although not
a Community Fund Agency it cooperates with all children’s agencies within
the Welfare Federation and with the city relief agencies.

With the close of the World, War, funds left over in the treasury of the
National Catholic War Council were allotted to various cities for the purpose
of establishing centers for a post-war reconstruction program. Cleveland was
given its share and a Social Service Settlement was established in one of the
congested centers of Cleveland. The settlement house was named Merrick
House for Miss Merrick, and the Christchild society members who were en-
trusted with the direction of organizing the settlement work have continued
their interest in this work, although it is now a Community Fund agency.

They assisted in the development of the Nutrition Council, now a part
of the school health program of the City of Cleveland, and also assisted in
the pioneer work of Rosemary Home for Crippled Children, financing its
original library, providing motor service and sewing needs for the Home.

Others who have served as officers have been Mrs. E. J. Schroeter, Mrs.
Paul Zens, Mrs. II. R. Sullivan, Mrs. J. H. McGuinness, Mrs. Budd Bronson,
Mrs. C. V. Pattison, Mrs. J. E. Cogan and Mrs. W. C. McKeon. Mrs. William
Parks is now president.

THE FIRST CATHOLIC SLOVAK LADIES UNION OF
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
The First Catholic Slovak Ladies Union of U. S. A. came into existence
in 1892 when six Cleveland women of Slovak birth met with the Rev. Stephen
Furdek, one of the first Slovak priests to come to America to minister to the
spiritual needs of his people. The society was incorporated Oct. 18, 1899. At
that time these objectives were set forth : To promote the temporal and
spiritual welfare of all of its members and more particularly :

(a) To render more tolerable the conditions of their widows, widowers
and orphans and to console and help them in their bereavement.

WOMEN OF OHIO

597

(b) As worthy daughters of pious ancestors and as faithful members
of the Roman Catholic Church, to remain and be strengthened in the Holy
Faith, and so to secure eternal happiness.

(c) To cultivate the Slovak language inherited from their forefathers,
to preserve it for the coming generations, and thus become worthy of their
ancestors.

It is a fraternal insurance society that has grown from the initial group
of six members to a membership of 40,000 adults in 450 branches throughout
the United States and Canada and a junior membership list which since its
organization in 1905 has grown to 25,000 members in 390 branches.

It carries an insurance of $35,500,000 for adults and $5,000,000 for juniors.
It has paid out from 1916 to 1938 death claims in the amount of $6,780,000
and to meet the depression emergency from 1924 to 1937 is waived 13 assess-
ments amounting to $647,105. An allocation of $5,000 was also provided for
| needy mothers to meet the dues assessments of their children in the junior
branches.

Since 1916 they have donated approximately $350,000 for educational,
religious and charitable purposes of which $135,000 was for relief of needy
I members in the organization.

They have established two scholarships for the education of Slovak stu-
dents for the priesthood in Rome, one from the archdiocese of Chicago and
the other from the diocese of Cleveland. The sum of $40,000 had been donated
for the Benedictine Slovak High school for boys of Cleveland.

Members maintain their own office building at 3756 Lee Rd., Cleveland
Heights, and two of its supreme officers reside in Cleveland, Mrs. Mary E.
Grega, secretary and Mrs. Mary Kollar, treasurer.

Their generous gifts to charity, education and religious purposes bear
| witness to the fact that present members are faithfully carrying out the objec-
tives laid down by their founders, Father Furdek and the six Cleveland women.

LADIES AUXILIARY TO THE ANCIENT ORDER OF

HIBERNIANS

Ohio has given several national presidents to the Ladies Auxiliary of
| the Ancient Order of Hibernians, a national organization of Irish American
! citizens. The national organization came into being in 1894 and Ohio held
I its first state convention in 1896.

The late Mrs. Adele Christy of Cleveland served as president of the
national group from 1921 to 1925. During her administration she directed
and brought to a successful conclusion a campaign for $60,000 for the erection
| of the bronze monument in Washington, D. C. This is entitled “The Angels
of the Battlefields” and is dedicated to the many religious sisterhoods who
| served their country during the Civil War. It occupies a prominent place in a
park opposite St. Matthew’s Church on Rhode Island Ave., Washington, I). C.

598

WOMEN OF OHIO

Mrs. Mary Horan, a native of Youngstown, Ohio and now a resident of
Pittsburgh, Pa., was another national president of the society, having served
from 1925 to 1929. During her term of office the sum of $10,000 was donated
toward the $50,000 fund raised by the men’s group, Ancient Order of Hiber-
nians, for the erection of a new Irish college in Rome, for the education of
Irish born students in the priesthood.

The national organization also was one of the first fraternal groups to
establish a perpetual scholarship in Trinity College, established in Washing-
ton, D. C. in 1900 by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur of Reading, Ohio.
A check for $10,000 from the society was given to the late Cardinal James
Gibbons, then archbishop of Baltimore, in which archdiocese Trinity College
is located.

In 1912, a gift of $12,000 was voted to the Catholic Church Extension
society, whose headquarters are in Chicago, to be used for the extension of
mission activities of the church in the United States. During the World War
a $12,000 gift was made to provide mass kits for the Catholic chaplains who
served in this country and in Europe.

In the national shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D. C.,
is a mosaic altar in honor of St. Brigid, patroness of the Ladies Auxiliary and
“the Mary of the Gael,” which was erected by the auxiliary at a cost of
$ 10 , 000 .

To all of these gifts the Ohio members have contributed, in addition to
sponsoring annual essay contests in the Catholic elementary, high schools
and colleges of Ohio in the interests of Irish culture and American patriotism.

The objectives of the organization are to preserve the culture of the Irish
people, to encourage devotion to Church, home and country — to promote edu-
cation, morality and social uplift.

The State presidents who have directed Ohio’s program since 1896 have
been Mrs. Stella Spaulding, Dayton, Ohio ; Mrs. Katherine Collins, Toledo ;
Mrs. Frances Hoynes, Cleveland; Miss Eva DeVannev, Dayton; Miss Rose
Carroll, Cleveland. Mrs. Gertrude Manning, Cincinnati, is the present leader.

LEONARDA SOCIETY

The first Catholic Hospital auxiliary in Cleveland and the second oldest
Catholic social service organization in Cleveland is the Leonarda society,
organized in 1888 by Mrs. Louisa Beckman and her daughters, Mrs. Hattie
Beckman Edwards, now of Toledo, Ohio and Mrs. Katherine Beckman Breen
now of Dayton, Ohio.

St. Alexis Hospital had been founded in 1887 by Mother Leonarda and
Sister Alexis, in what was then an abandoned school building. With only
$2.00 in resources upon their arrival in Cleveland it is easily understood why
the help of an organized lay group was sought. Mrs. Beckman was one of

WOMEN OF OHIO

599

the leaders in the Catholic social and charitable work at the time, and her
husband, Hemy Beckman, was prominent in the business life of Cleveland.
Mother Leonarda appealed to her for assistance and a group of 12 women
were invited to meet weekly in the Beckman home to sew for the needs of the
hospitals. Mrs. Beckman provided all of the material. In 1890 Mr. Beckman
provided a suite of rooms in his business block at 204 Superior Ave. for the

I use of the society and the name was changed to Leonarda society in honor
of the venerable foundress, Mother Leonarda. The first president of this

| society was Mrs. John C. Callahan.

The society has continued not only in its weekly meetings to make sponges
and bandages for hospital use, but to sew and to conduct social affairs that
will provide financial help to the hospital.

The Leonarda society led in the movement immediately preceding the
World War to raise the funds for the building of the Leonarda Memorial
Wing on the present hospital site and also the later addition of a new nurses
home.

In addition the Society provides an annual scholarship for post graduate

I I work for graduate nurses of the Hospital Training school.

NATIONAL DAUGHTERS OF ISABELLA

Queen Isabella of Spain, who pawned her jewels that Columbus might
j go forth on the voyage that was eventually to lead to the discovery of America,
is honored and revered by a large group of women in America and Canada,
known as the Daughters of Isabella.

An altar has been erected in the national shrine of the Immaculate Con-
I ception in memory of Queen Isabella and its 50,000 members throughout the
United States and Canada, 4500 of whom are in Ohio, in 1933' established the
Queen Isabella Foundation in the National Catholic School of Social Service
jin Washington, D. C.

Ohio members have contributed $10,000 toward the $100,000 fellowship
(fund that educates college women graduates in the field of social service and
social welfare administration as part of the civic, religious and educational
(program of the Daughters of Isabella.

This society was organized in 1897 in Hartford, Conn., as an auxiliary
[to a local branch of the Knights of Columbus. In 1904 it became incorporated
jand the following reasons for organization were assigned:

To become better acquainted; to widen their circle of friends; to combine
j r heir resources and energies for mutual assistance; to promote the social
! and religious upbuilding of their sex; to aid their intellectual growth; to
mable them to fill with loftier devotion and more untiring zeal the high as
veil as the lowly places which fall to their lot ; to strive for the development
>f all that is best and truest in womanhood for the promotion of high ideals
! >f life and morals ; to become a united force for the advancement of good in
he world.

600

WOMEN OF OHIO

In 1929 state circles were formed and there are now 23 such groups of
which Ohio is one. There is a total membership of 50,000 in 435 groups
throughout the United State and Canada.

There are 37 circles in Ohio with a total membership of 4500 women.
Mrs. Mary L. Kopf of Dayton, Ohio, is national Monitor and Mrs. Helen T.
Howard, City Clerk at Columbus, Ohio, is State Regent of Ohio groups. The
Ohio groups in community charitable and educational work contribute
annually about $8,000 and in addition contribute generously to national funds
for the promotion of national programs.

During the World War, they contributed towards the $75,000 given for
war relief work. Among other gifts is the $10,000 gift for the Sisters college
of Catholic University, Washington, D. C.

The Ohio circles are located in Cincinnati, Norwood, Piqua, Hamilton,
Harrison, Toledo, Mt. Healthy, Sidney, Columbus, Lima, Fremont, Mansfield,
Tiffin, Fostoria, Norwalk, Sandusky, Marion, Galion, Springfield, Marietta,
Versailles, St. Henry, Celina, London, Ironton, Chillicothe, Zanesville, Coshoc-
ton, New Lexington, and Shelby. Five of these are located in Cincinnati.

One of the early members from Cincinnati and a former national officer
was Miss M. Rosalia Conoron who died July 15, 1930. She served as overseas
secretary in the Knights of Columbus headquarters in Paris during the World
War and at the time of her death was deputy clerk of Hamilton County Pro-
bate Court. She was the first State Regent of Ohio Daughters of Isabella. She
was deeply interested in the Fontbonne Home for Girls in Cincinnati, and
at the time of her death the Sisters of St. Joseph in charge of the home,
begged the privilege of having her body lie in state in their convent chapel.
The request was granted.

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CATHOLIC WOMEN

The World War of 1914 to 1918 was the incentive for the formation of a
national organization of the National Council of Catholic Women. Its forma-
tion did not mean the establishment of a new organization, but was intended
to serve as an agency for federating all the Catholic women’s organizations
in America, parish, interparish, state and national groups that were function-
ing under the approbation of their respective ecclesiastical authorities, with
a further view of effecting united action on matters concerning church and
country.

Ohio women have been in the forefront of this organization from its very
inception in March of 1920 in Washington, D. C. A bishop of Ohio, the Most
Rev. Archbishop Joseph Schrembs, now of Cleveland, but then bishop of
Toledo, Ohio, was appointed by the American Catholic hierarchy to organize
the Catholic women in similar organizations of Catholic men into what has
since become known as the lay organizations department of the National
Catholic Welfare Conference.

WOMEN OF OHIO

601

The first Ohio woman to represent the Catholic women of Ohio on its
national board was Mrs. F. E. Mackentepe of Cincinnati. She was succeeded
by Mrs. Martin B. Daly, Cleveland, who served as national treasurer, and later
Mrs. Wallace C. Benham, Euclid, Ohio, succeeded Mrs. Daly and served as
national treasurer and national vice-president successively. Mrs. R. K. Le-
Blond of Cincinnati succeeded Mrs. Benham and Mrs. Eugene McCarthy,
Cleveland, is Mrs. LeBlond's successor.

The Ohio representative at one time represented the Catholic women from
the Catholic dioceses in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee, which terri-
tory formerly was included in the ecclesiastical province of Cincinnati. Since
1938, when Louisville, Ky., was established as a province by Papal authorities,
the Cincinnati province now includes Ohio and Indiana.

Cleveland Diocesan Council has the largest number of affiliations in all
of Ohio, with more than 200 single groups affiliated.

The federation of societies in the diocesan groups is given national and
| international recognition through its affiliation with the national headquarters
in Washington, D. C., and by reason also of its affiliation with the International
I Union of Catholic Women's Leagues, which has its headquarters in Rome
and whose governing board is composed of 18 women selected from among
t the Catholic women of the world.

Catholic women federated groups from more than 50 countries are part
; of the International Union of Catholic Women's Leagues. The American
Catholic women are represented on the international board by Miss Anne
I Sarachon Hooley of Kansas City, Mo., a graduate of the academy of the
! Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, at Reading, Ohio, and later a graduate of
| Trinity College, Washington, D. C., which is conducted by the same nuns.

The International Union of Catholic Women’s Leagues has won the high-
est commendation and approval of four Popes, the first Pius X under whose
I reign it was organized in 1913 ; by his successors, Pope Benedict, Pope Pius
XI and the present Supreme Pontiff, Pope Pius XII.

The National Council of Catholic Women has had the approval of the
| three Popes who have reigned since its establishment, Pope Benedict XV, Pope
I Pius XI and Pope Pius XII.

The international headquarters in Rome as well as the national headquar-
1 ters in Washington serve as clearing houses, the first for the Catholic women
I groups of the various countries and the latter for the Catholic women’s
I groups in America.

Exchange of programs among their sister groups on civic and religious
education, youth, the family and its problems, the wage-earning woman, dis-
armament, world peace, and other matters of vital concern is shared with the
unit affiliations, and serves to strengthen the effectiveness of Catholic women's
efforts throughout the world.

The major activity of the National Council of Catholic Women in America
is its sponsorship and maintenance of the National Catholic School of Social

602

WOMEN OF OHIO

Service, located at 2400 Nineteenth St., N. W., Washington, U. C. It is a !
graduate school, affiliated with the Catholic University at Washington, D. C. j
The primary aim of this school is to provide a program of social work train-
ing which embodies the philosophy and culture of the Catholic Church. In
conformity with its original and continuous objective the National Catholic
School of Social Service is properly a School of Catholic Social Work. The
school is the successor of the service school known as the Clifton School which j
was organized in 1918 by the National Catholic War Council to meet the un- |
anticipated need of social workers in this country and in Europe during the
war and in the reconstruction days immediately following. Between 1918 and
1921, the Clifton School provided short courses of training for 290 students .
who entered the field of social work in this country and in Europe.

The widespread demands for Catholic trained social workers following
the World War prompted the reorganization of the emergency school into a j
permanent institution with a recognized professional curriculum and a pro- i
fessional staff. It became the first resident school to train social workers in
the country.

In the development of this school and in its maintenance, again Ohio
women have been in the forefront. Three Ohio women have been members
of the Board of Trustees almost from the beginning. These include Mrs. R. K.
LeBlond, Cincinnati, Mrs. M. B. Daly, and Mrs. John J. Bernet, Cleveland.

The Mary Gess Schrembs scholarship was established in the school in 1929 |
by the Cleveland Diocesan Council of Women in observance of' the 40th anni-
versary of priesthood of Archbishop Joseph Schrembs, and was named by him
in memory of his mother, Mary Gess Schrembs. This scholarship provided
two years tuition for a Catholic woman graduate of a recognized school. Mrs.
Daly, Mrs. Bernet and Mrs. Wallace C. Benham, Euclid, directed the plans j
for raising this gift. It is the only perpetual scholarship for Ohio girls. Mrs.
LeBlond, Cincinnati, has provided an annual fellowship, known as the Le- i
Blond Fellowship for many years.

Each of the three councils in Ohio, the Cincinnati Archdiocesan Council,
the Toledo Diocesan Council and the Cleveland Diocesan Council, as council
groups and through generous gifts of individual members, have contributed j
more than $50,000 in scholarships and in maintenance of the school since its
inception. Approximately $5,000 annually continues to be provided for the
maintenance of the school.

Since the establishment of the school on a permanent basis in 1921, more
than 400 women have been graduated from it. They are engaged in social
work in practically every state in the Union and in many foreign lands, includ-
ing China, Australia, Mexico, Porto Rico, the Philippines, Gautemala, Canada.
These graduate students have come from Australia, Canada, Germany, France, j
Belgium, China, Porto Rico, the Philippines, Gautemala and other distant j ,
countries, and from practically every state in the Union.

WOMEN OF OHIO

603

One of its Ohio graduates, Anna Rose Kimpel, Toledo, former recreation
director at the Toledo Catholic Community House, is now National Youth
Director for the National Council of Catholic Women. She represented the
Catholic Youth of America in the Youth Conference held in Rome, Easter
Week of 1939, which was attended by 630 youth leaders from 31 different
I countries. This conclave was addressed by Pope Pius XII.

Miss Minnie Byrne, executive secretary of the Toledo Catholic Community
House, is a graduate of the school and was once the president of the Alumnae
i Association of the National Catholic School of Social Service.

Miss Helen Thollen, Cleveland, is Medical Social Service director of the
1 University Hospitals, Cleveland, and of the faculty of the School of Social
Science of Western Reserve University.

Miss Mary Rita Shea, Cleveland, the first to win the Mary Gess Schrembs
scholarship is on the staff of the U. S. Department of Labor, with headquar-
: ters in Washington, D. C.

THE CATHOLIC COMMUNITY HOUSE— TOLEDO, OHIO

The Catholic Community House of Toledo, Ohio, was organized in 1919,
immediately following the World War and was financed by funds left over
i from the National Catholic War Council, which did social welfare work in
this country and overseas during the World War. The needs of America
I immediately following the World War suggested the establishment of social
service bureaus throughout the United States. Key cities of the country were
selected by the bishops for the establishment of such centers.

Toledo was one of the cities selected. The National Catholic War Council
I provided funds with which to finance it for a period of nearly three years,
j At the time of its organization, Bishop Joseph Schrembs, then Bishop of
I Cleveland, organized a group of Toledo Catholic women to serve as an
j auxiliary to the Community House and to further its work. This group
became known as the Toledo Council of Catholic Women and Mrs. E. F.
i Brucker became its organizer and first president. Although the Community
! House is now one of the agencies of the Toledo Catholic Charities, the Toledo
l Council of Catholic Women and the Toledo Diocesan Council continue to aid
| in its support. It is staffed by trained social workers under the leadership
of Miss Minnie Byrne, executive secretary, who is a graduate of the National
Catholic School of Social Service.

The Community House not only serves as a work, educational, and a
' recreational center, it serves also as a residence for normal business girls.
Each resident has a private room, two well planned and well cooked meals
I daily at a reasonable rate.

Its social service staff cooperates with all existing accredited welfare
i agencies and in addition to all of this, the Community House serves as the
central office for the Toledo Council of Catholic Women and the Toledo

604

WOMEN OF OHIO

Diocesan Council of Catholic Women. Miss Byrne serves in the dual capacity
of executive secretary of the Community House and corresponding secretary
for the Toledo Deanery and the Toledo Diocesan Councils.

CATHOLIC DAUGHTERS OF AMERICA

Ohio Catholic women have another Catholic fraternal organization in
which they are interested. Organized in 1903 by the Knights of Columbus
of Utica, N. Y., with a membership of 60 women, it had a man as its chief
officer for a number of years, but now is directed entirely by women. For
more than 10 years, until 1937, Miss Catherine V. Mylett, Cleveland, served
as a national director. The first state deputy for Ohio was Mrs. May Daly
Brady, wife of Edward L. Brady, prominent Cleveland attorney. Mrs. Brady
organized the first Court of the Catholic Daughters of America in Cleveland ,
in 1918 from a group of women who had been meeting regularly during the j
period of the World War to knit and to make hospital comforts for the |
soldiers in this country and Europe. The organization now extends into 45
states, into Panama, Porto Rico, Cuba, Canada and Alaska. Mrs. Brady
organized the Ohio State Court and was its first state regent.

With the organization of Court Cleveland, its first work following the
war was to support the newly organized Girls’ Catholic High School, which
was established in the Cathedral School, of Cleveland. The Catholic Daughters i
contributed more than $20,000 toward this work and following the com-
pletion of this. Bishop Joseph Schrembs assigned them to sponsor the Catholic
Big Sister work.

For many years they provided two weeks summer camp for 100 or more
young girls. They continue to assist in the summer camp program of the
Catholic Big Sisters.

They have branches in Cleveland, Akron, Youngstown, Canton, Massillon,
Ravenna, Wooster, Ashland, Cambridge, Steubenville, Salem, East Liverpool,
and Pomeroy, Ohio.

The Ohio State members have provided a perpetual scholarship for the
education of one priest for the mission fields of the Catholic Church in the j
southland — and contribute also to the approximately $400,000 that is expended j
annually by the national organization for missionary, civic and religious
educational work and social welfare throughout the country, which money i
is raised by contributions from state subordinate groups.

The national organization sponsors scholarships in the Mundelein Sem-
inary, Chicago; the National Catholic School of Social Service, Washington,

D. C.

Youngstown, Ohio Court maintains a residence home for business girls
at 238 Lincoln Ave. It is known as the St. Jeanne D’Arc home and was given
to Bishop Joseph Schremb, free of debt, to be used as a residence home for
girls and a social service center.

i

WOMEN OF OHIO

605

INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF CATHOLIC ALUMNAE

Ohio has 40 alumnae groups that form the Ohio Chapter of the Interna-
tional Federation of Catholic Alumnae, an international organization which
had its beginning in 1914 at a meeting in St. Joseph’s College, Emmitsburg,
Md. Mrs. James J. Sheeran of New York and Miss Clare I. Cogan, now Sister
De Paul of the Maryknoll Sisters, were the organizers of it. Among those from
Ohio who attended the initial meeting were Mrs. Lillian Murney McNally
of Cleveland and the late Rose Daly Champion, also of Cleveland.

Today its membership exceeds 100,000 graduates from nearly 600 Catholic
academies and colleges.

Perhaps the service for which it was most noted was its preview work
in classifying film productions, an international project aimed toward a
program for clean and suitable films. One of its New York members, Mrs.
James F. Looran, is national chairman for the I.F.C.A.

Miss Gertrude Savage, Cleveland, is state chairman of the Motion Pic-
tures Committee and has pioneered in the preview work in Ohio. She has
received special commendation for her work in Ohio, from national head-
quarters of I.F.C.A.

The work, however, of which little is known, is its scholarship fund,
which provides scholarships for teaching nuns of the various religious com-
munities. Ohio Chapter for its Ohio nuns sponsors 13 scholarships, five in
Ursuline College, Cleveland; one in Notre Dame College, Cleveland; two in
Xavier University, Cincinnati, and four in St. Mary’s of the Springs College,
Columbus. These are made possible by the cooperation of the Nuns in charge
of these schools. The Ohio Chapter and its affiliated groups contribute also
to the national scholarship fund, which has reached $1,000,000 and provides
for graduate study in the Catholic University and other universities.

Sister Mary Edith Kelley, St. Ursula Alumnae, Toledo, Ohio, was winner
of the Edward A. Pace Scholarship in Catholic University and received her
Ph.D. degree from Catholic University in 1938. The Edward A. Pace Scholar-
ship is part of the $1,000,000 fund.

Another activity worthy of mention and a work in which Ohio has part,
is that of the training of Braille writers, to aid in the national program of
providing literature for the blind. A Sister of Mercy from Cincinnati is
pioneering in this special activity in Ohio. Four Braille classes are organized.
Miss Josephine Hanhauser, Miss Ada Hummell, Mrs. William Martin and
Miss Florence Ellerhorst, all of Cincinnati are instructors. Sister Mary
Catherine of the Sisters of Mercy is advisor of the Mercy Braille Club of
Cincinnati.

The Braille work is getting a start in Cleveland and certificates for
transcribers have been earned by Mrs. Joseph Marcel, St. Joseph’s Academy
Alumnae and Miss Helen Pope, Notre Dame Alumnae, Cleveland. They have
trained in the Cleveland School for the Blind.

606

WOMEN OF OHIO

Still another activity which is engaging the attention of members through- j
out this country and Europe, is the preliminary work toward the elevation
to the rank of sainthood of Elizabeth Bayley Seton, foundress of the Sisters I
of Charity at Emmitsburg, Md. She established her order in 1809 and is
regarded as the foundress of the present parochial school system in the United
States.

The present Supreme Pontiff, Pope Pius XII when Cardinal Secretary of
State, referred to Mother Seton as “the great pioneer of Catholic Education,” I
and The Apostolic Delegate in Washington, D. C., the Most Rev. Amleto
Giovanni Cicognani, writing in behalf of Mother Seton ’s cause, wrote to Mrs. j
Sheeran, chairman of the Mother Seton Committee: “It has been my privilege
from time to time to further in some small way the cause of Mother Seton
and I am following with deep interest the progress of the cause here and in
Rome. I unite in prayer with the members of your organization when the j
great American woman will be enrolled among the Saints of His Church.”

The Sisters of Charity at Cincinnati is a foundation from the Emmits-
burg convent founded by Elizabeth Bayley Seton, who was a convert to the j
C atholic Church. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt is related to the ji
Bayley family of which Elizabeth Seton is a member. A nephew of Mother
Seton, Archbishop James Roosevelt Bayley, was once archbishop of Baltimore. !

CIRCLE OF MERCY

The first Catholic social service society in Cleveland was the Circle of
Mercy, organized in 1892 and incorporated in 1894 “to furnish aid to the
poor and needy of the city of Cleveland and to hold such personal property as
may be necessary for the purpose aforesaid.”

A home at 1957 East 70th St. was purchased as a social and work center
and here for more than 40 years Circle members have gathered weekly to
make garments for the needy children. In the early days, food and fuel
were included in the service rendered. Their work now consists chiefly in
serving those who are in need of immediate help.

The incorporators of 1894 were Estelle S. Russell, Mary E. Carren, Mrs.
George Fenner, Annine M. Carlisle, Catherine J. Wamelink, Dora Faulhaber,
Mary Frawley, Helen M. Byerley, Mrs. D. W. Johns and Margaret E. Leslie.
It has an enrollment membership of 190 women. The year 1939 saw the
burning of the mortgage for the social center building.

LADIES CATHOLIC BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION

Back in 1890 seven women of Pennsylvania, two of whom later came to
reside in Youngstown, Ohio, organized the first fraternal association for
women in America. The society became known as the Ladies Catholic Bene-
volent Association. Mrs. Kate Woods of Union City, Pa., and Mrs. Nellie

WOMEN OF OHIO

607

Murray of Erie, Pa., were among the seven signers to the acts of Incorporation.
Both of these women, because of their husbands’ businesses came to Youngs-
town, Ohio and spent the greater part of their life there as leaders in the
fraternal, social and religious life of the community.

In the charter and in the acts of Incorporation, signed in April, 1890,
this purpose was expressed: “To unite into a fraternal sisterhood all Catholic
women of approved moral character and in good physical health who are
I between such ages and possessing such other qualifications for membership
as the constitution and by-laws may prescribe, and for the further purpose
of elevating them morally, mentally and socially, of educating them in piety,

| integrity and frugality ; of promoting among them a spirit of contentment
with their condition in life; of teaching them to mutually aid and assist one
I another, and of providing that upon the death of members, benefits may be
[paid to their families.”

An organization of similar objectives had been organized by men some
I time before, for men. Wives of these members sought to have the charter
amended so as to permit women to share in these same benefits. The men
[objected, being quite convinced, that the entrance of women into the organ-
ization would mean immediate failure. The wives of seven of the members
[decided they would start one of their own. The men’s organization has long
[since passed from the scene of activities, but the women’s organization is
termed today as “The million dollar society,” as in its fifty years of existence
it has paid out in death benefits an average of one million dollars annually.
Its present reserve fund is $24,000,000 and its actuary rating has passed be-
yond the mark demanded by government regulations.

At the first convention held in Erie, Pa., in 1890, after its incorporation
another Ohio woman became a leader, Miss Catherine Gaughran, then president
pf the Young Ladies Sodality in Norwalk, Ohio. She was urged by her pastor,
[the Rev. C. V. Cheveraux, to become interested and to interest other women
in this fraternal work. She was elected the first supreme guard of the
[society and held this office until her death in 1925, when she was succeeded
i >y Miss Margaret M. Carroll, of Lakewood, Ohio. Mrs. Katherine Muth-Welker
j)f Cleveland, is supreme auditor of the society and Mrs. Augusta Lauber,
[ Toledo, is a supreme trustee.

In Calvary Cemetery, Youngstown, Ohio, the National branch of the
j.C.B.A. has erected a shaft in memory of Mrs. Woods, who lies buried there.
She is regarded as the foundress of the L.C.B.A. movement, and to her business
licumen, and great leadership is attributed much of the success for the sound
msiness foundation given to L.C.B.A. at its founding in 1850. A son and a
lumber of grandchildren of Mrs. Woods still reside in Youngstown.

Ohio is rated as the third state in the Union in point of membership. One
vho was active in the development of the work in Youngstown with Mrs.

608

WOMEN OF OHIO

Woods and Mrs. Murray is Catherine Ryan Gillen, widow of John F. Gillen, f
a member of a pioneer Youngstown family. Mr. Gillen was the the great
grandson of Daniel Shehy, one of the first settlers in Youngstown, who j
helped to survey the Western Reserve.

Mrs. Gillen with a sister, the late Madame Ryan Burke, assisted in the
organization of practically every new parish that was established in the
vicinity of Youngstown. Mrs. Gillen’s brother, Patrick Ryan, now deceased,
was the builder of the beautiful English Gothic cathedral-like church of St. I
Columba’s in Youngstown, in the parish with which the Ryan and Gillen I
families have been identified throughout their entire lifetime in Youngstown. ;

SARAH WORTHINGTON PETERS
SARAH WORTHINGTON PETERS, daughter of Thomas Worthington, I
fifth governor of Ohio, was born in Chillicothe, Ohio. According to Anna r
Shannon McAllister, who is at work now on the history of Sarah Peters. :
“she is the exponent of everything fine in Catholic womanhood, and deserves J
to be rediscovered for the present generation.”

A daughter-in-law, Mrs. Rufus King, has told much of the history of i
Mrs. Peters in two volumes, published in 1888. Sarah Peters has rated short
sketches of her life in Scribner’s, “Dictionary of American Biography,” in
the “Catholic Encyclopedia,” also in “Woman’s Record, or Sketches of j [
Distinguished Women from the Creation to A.D. 1854,” by Sarah Josepha [
Hale.

But Sarah Peters ’ contribution to the Catholic Church in Ohio is what
we are particularly interested in. The fact that four religious communities
of women in Ohio, and one men’s religious group are at work in Ohio because 1
of her, gives her a special place of honor in this book, “Women of Ohio.”

A story is told of Mrs. Peters that she went to Rome in 1853, determined
to convert the then reigning Pope Pius IX. She was not of the Catholic
faith and was of the reform type of crusader, eager to set the world aright.
She believed that the place to start was with the head of the Catholic Church
in Rome. j

She did not convert the Pope but Rome succeeded in converting her to
the Catholic Faith and later she became one of the Church’s most zealous, if
not the most zealous lay apostle in all of Ohio.

Armed with a letter from Pope Pius introducing her to religious houses
of the continent, she visited one after another of them, seeking Religious
communities to come to Ohio. Sisters of the Poor of St. Francis, of hospital '
prominence, the Little Sisters of the Poor, whose sole work is among the aged
poor, the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, who work among delinquent girls
and fallen women and the Sisters of Mercy, a teaching order, were the
religious orders of women who responded and the Passionist Order, for men!
was another. I

WOMEN OF OHIO

609

She used her entire fortune, which was ample, in establishing* these com-
munities, and in financing several of them over a period of years. In addition
to her Catholic charities in 1888 she helped the Quakers in Philadelphia found
the Rosina House for Magdalenes.

Sarah was only 16 years of age when she married Edward King, son of
Rufus King, once minister to London. He died in 1836 and in 1844 she married
William Peters, who was English consul at Philadelphia. He died in 1853
and it was after his death, that she started to Europe to reform the Pope and
then the world !

One of the old sisters at the Sisters of Good Shepherd now at Carthage,
Ohio, tells the story of her funeral. Mrs. Peters in later years found it neces-
sary to use a cane. The cane was very much a part of her and at her death,
in the funeral hearse following the one in which her casket was, there was the
cane, wrapped in mourning. It was buried in the grave with her.

FLORENCE RUDGE McGAHAN

FLORENCE RUDGE McGAHAN was a member of a pioneer Ohio family,
whose grandparents, George and Jane Rudge of Episcopalian faith, came
from England in 1852 and settled in Boardman, Ohio. In 1864 the elder
Rudges and their six children, of whom George J., Jr., the father of Florence
was one, were received into the Catholic Church.

Her early education and the education of her two sisters, Mary Rudge
Walsh and Georgianna Rudge McAleer, was received in her own home, with
her mother as their teacher. Their mother, Anna Sullivan Rudge, was a
teacher for 16 years prior to her marriage to Mr. Rudge. The three girls
entered St. Columba’s school, Youngstown, Ohio, for the final years of the
elementary school and then Rayen Public High School.

In 1900 the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur of Reading, Ohio, opened
Trinity College, Washington, D. C., and Florence enrolled. She was an honor
pupil in the first graduating class of 1904. She received her B.A. degree that
year and returned for another year to earn her M.A. degree and was one of
the first to receive a Masters degree from Trinity College. She taught Latin
I while majoring in that subject, her thesis for her Masters degree was, “Virgil’s
Imitations and Imitators, as Studied In His Ecologues. ”

The Catholic Encyclopedia was then in process of compilation and had
among its compilers many of the learned professors of Catholic University.
Some of these professors also taught at Trinity College and came to know
| of Miss Rudge ’s scholarly attainments. She was invited to join the editorial
Staff of the Catholic Encyclopedia, the only Ohioan on the staff, and served
is translator of articles from Latin, German, French and Italian. She con-
tributed many compilations also to this work.

In 1910 she married James P. McGahan, Youngstown, manager of the
jllell Telephone Co. A daughter, Martha, was born the following year and on
Vov. 27, 1912, she died in Cleveland following the birth of a son who also died.

610

WOMEN OF OHIO

Her daughter Martha was a scholarship student at Vassar and after her
graduation in 1933, she engaged in magazine work in California.

Her sisters, Mary and Georgianna, followed a musical career and were
church soloists as well as teachers of voice and voice culture, a profession in
which both are now engaged in Youngstown, Ohio.

CATHERINE PEIRCE O’CONNOR

As late as 1900 the occupations open to Catholic women in which a ■
reputation could be made, were comparatively few and the chief among these I
was Journalism.

Among those women in the Western Reserve to attain wide popularity
as a writer, was CATHERINE PEIRCE O’CONNOR, who was born in Youngs-
town, Ohio, the daughter of Thomas and Helen Peirce O’Connor, pioneers in
the life of the community. Her early education was received in the Convent j
School of the Ursuline Sisters in Youngstown and later at the Ursuline i,
Academy in Toledo, Ohio, now Marymanse College.

She first contributed to the Youngstown Telegram, The Catholic Universe
of Cleveland, Ohio, The Pittsburgh Dispatch, Pittsburgh, Pa., and later as
Youngstown’s first columnist conducted the “She Told John” column for
the Telegram of Youngstown, Ohio, and other publications. In 1913 she was !.
chosen from among the newspaper writers to meet in New York the survivors i
of the lamented Titanic. Among Youngstown survivors whom she welcomed |
was Caroline Bonnell, now Mrs. Paul Jones, wife of Judge Paul Jones, Federal
Judge of Ohio.

In November, 1915, she married Judge Joseph L. Heffernan. Their home
was in Youngstown, Ohio, where her only son was born. She died at his birth. ,

Mrs. Heffernan ’s writings remain uncollected. Through all her active
and varied life Mrs. Heffernan was a person of profound spirituality. She :
was a woman of great devotion to the Church and works of Charity. She j i
opened a new line of endeavor to local young women in the journalistic field
of promise and inspired and encouragd many of the young people with whom
she came in contact to seek higher education in preparation for journalism j ,
and literary endeavors. jj;

As women in general were slower to be represented in journalism than
in literature, Catherine O’Connor Heffernan not only made a success of news- ; j
paper work, but paved the way for her many successors. Never among her
superiors was there a question of her ability to accomplish those things in
newspaper work which are ordinarily supposed to lie outside of woman’s
scope. She was given the opportunity and succeeded admirably in writing i
on American politics, religious topics, on subjects connected with the law,
technical pursuits, general and special education, art, music and literature. J

WOMEN OF OHIO

611

A literary critic of rare ability, she furthered the reputations of a number
of aspirants to literary fame. Her only son, Joseph Lawrence Heffernan
Morgan, adopted at birth by his uncle and aunt, Evan and Anna O’Connor
Morgan, studied also with the Ursulines and was graduated with honors from
the law school of the University of Detroit in June, 1939.

ANNA SHANNON McALLISTER

ANNA SHANNON McALLISTER, wife of Earl Sadler McAllister of
Bexley, Ohio, has an avocation that is as unique as it is rare. After many
years in church and charitable endeavors, she is now devoting her life to the
rediscovery of notable Catholic Women of America and has chosen the literary
route for the presentation of her discoveries.

Ellen Ewing, granddaughter of Hugh Boyle, one of the first Catholic
settlers in Ohio and wife of General William Tecumseli Sherman, Civil War
General and one time ranking officer of the U. S. Army, is Mrs. McAllister’s
first discovery. She published Ellen’s life in a book, “ Ellen Ewing,” published
in June, 1936, by Benziger Bros., and selected that same month by the Catholic
Book-of-the-Month club.

Her second discovery, “Sarah Peters” will be off the press soon, and it
too concerns an Ohio born woman, of whom it has been said, that “she was
not only the outstanding woman of her day, but of all times.”

Mrs. McAllister was born in Cincinnati, March 11, 1888, and studied with
the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur for two years before her family moved
to Columbus where she enrolled with the same Sisters in their St. Joseph’s
academy. Upon the completion of academy studies she enrolled in Ohio Uni-
versity, graduating from there in 1909. Then to Europe with her parents,
Frank and Ella Stewart Shannon and her three sisters, where the summer of
1910 was spent in travels on the continent.

She married Mr. McAllister in 1911, and it is to her husband, she says,
that she is indebted for “His constant encouragement and intelligent, sym-
pathetic help.”

Her mother comes from an old colonial family whose ancestors settled in
Salisbury, N. C., in 1639 and moved to Stewartown, Pa., now Etna, Pa., after
the Revolutionary War. She is a member of the Daughters of the American
! Revolution, of the American Association of University Women and the Colum-
j bus Chapter of the Penwomen of America.

MARGARET McCABE

The Fontbonne Residence Home for Girls and the Fenwick Club for men
and boys owe their origin to MARGARET McCABE of Cincinnati, a woman
of great piety and of substantial means. She was deeply concerned in the
welfare of the girls who were coming to Cincinnati in search of employment,
and homeless, friendless and alone and out of work chanced to become a prey
to evil influences.

H12

WOMEN OF OHIO

I

For their protection, her first venture was to rent a four room cottage
which was blessed on June 16, 1882 by Archbishop William W. Elder of Cin-
cinnati and was named the Sacred Heart Home. Other women of Cincinnati
became interested and the home’s popularity outgrew its small quarters until
such time as it was necessary to enlarge its facilities to accomodate 70 girls
and women.

Although it was not a convent, Miss McCabe ’s piety and the rules govern-
ing the home did create a religious atmosphere. So much so that eight of
the residents desired to form a religious community. Ecclesiastical authorities
were not eager to establish a new religious order, but did succeed in having
four Sisters of St. Joseph from the New Orleans convent to come to Cincinnati j
to establish a foundation of their order in Ohio. This was in 1893. The Sisters I
established a novitiate in the home and took over its direction. They renamed f
the home the Fontbonne Club for their foundress, Mother St. John Fontbonne ji
of France. It has become a self supporting residence for girls.

Miss McCabe then directed her efforts towards providing similar services
for boys, principally for bootblacks and newsboys, in a home already estab- I
lished by Father John Poland, S. J. In these she took a personal interest, il n
providing many of them with educational opportunities. It is said of Miss i]
McCabe that many men prominent in civic and religious life in Ohio today, I]
principally in Cincinnati owe their success to her. This club likewise grew, its m
scope of work broadened until today it has become the beautiful Fenwick j
Club, so named for the first Bishop of Ohio, Bishop Edward Fenwick, and
serves as a residence club for men and boys.

MRS. EDWARD F. BRUCKER

Since coming to Toledo in 1895 from her native Bay City, Mich., MRS.
EDWARD F. BRUCKER has proven that a woman can be 1 engaged in activi-
ties outside her home without in any way interfering with her responsibilities
to her family. She has served in an official capacity more Toledo organiza-
tions than, perhaps, any other woman.

At present the only woman member of the Toledo Public Library Board,
Mrs. Brucker has held this position since 1922. Her services brought forth
a letter from the librarian, Russell J. Schunck, sent to Bishop Karl J. Alter,
which starts out in this manner :

“I am eager to tell you of the fine service which Mrs. E. F. Brucker has
rendered this community during the sixteen years of her membership on the
board of Trustees of the Toledo Public Library.”

He then cites the many committees upon which she has served, book,
building, employment, extension, finance and rules, and “in her capacity as
head of the important employment committee, she has given wise and helpful
guidance to a great many members of our library staff as well as to the
librarian.

1

I

WOMEN OF OHIO

613

‘‘Mrs. Brucker has at all times considered with great fairness the needs
of the community and the whole employment problem in so far as it affects
local people. The standard for trained public librarians in Toledo has been
elevated greatly during her period of office.”

He also cites her part in the establishment of nine library branches as
well as several school stations and “her remarkably fine record of attendance
at board meetings.”

Mrs. Brucker is the mother of five children. One son, the Rev. Brucker,
is a member of the Jesuit order and is principal of Loyola High School,
Chicago. Mrs. Brucker began her organization activities immediately upon
her arrival in Toledo, when she became a member of the St. Frances De Sales
parish. Among her clubs are The Altar Guild of this parish, the Ladies of
Charity of St. Vincent’s Hospital, conducted by the Grey Nuns, St. Anthony’s
Orphanage League. She was organizer and first president of the newly created
Cathedral chapel Altar Sodality, now known as Our Lady Queen of the Holy
Rosary cathedral chapter; charter member and one time president of St.
Ursula’s scholarship association, which provided scholarships for girls and
young women in Ursuline academy and Marymanse college ; organized and
became first president of Spalding Study club. When the World War started
overseas, Mrs. Brucker became identified with the National Defense League,
then with the departure of her eldest son in the first contingent of Army Engin-
eers to cross the seas, Mrs. Brucker joined the Red Cross and became the
leader of a Red Cross Auxiliary that included women from all Catholic parishes
in Toledo. This work continued until there was “no more war work” to do.

She and her associates had scarcely time to rest, when Bishop Schrembs,
then Bishop of Toledo, called together the Catholic Women of the city to work
toward a Catholic Community Center in Toledo. Again, Mrs. Brucker was
I chosen as the leader and thus was the Toledo Council of the National Council
, of Catholic Women called into being, the first unit of the present Toledo
! Diocesan Council of the National Council of Catholic Women.

The Toledo group which she organized in 1919 continues to help sponsor
i the Toledo Community Center.

Tn 1928, Bishop Schrembs’ successor in Toledo, Archbishop Samuel
Stritch, now archbishop of Milwaukee, called a meeting to unite all of the
| Catholic women of the Toledo diocese into a federation to be known as Toledo
Diocesan Council N. C. C. W. Again Mrs. Brucker was chosen by Archbishop
j Stritch to organize and to be its president. She served in this capacity for
nine consecutive years. Tn her leadership of Catholic women’s activities in
; Toledo and later in the Toledo diocese, Mrs. Brucker has the distinction of
j working with the three Bishops of Toledo, Bishop Schrembs, Archbishop
Stritch and the present bishop, Bishop Karl J. Alter. She continues her
interest by committee service and in other ways in the various organizations,
and is actively identified with the activities of the Cathedral Community
I House, the Catholic Charities Corp., and the Toledo Community Fund.

614

WOMEN OF OHIO

This chapter is respectfully and lovingly dedicated to
the many religious Sisterhoods of the Catholic Faith whose
members, for more than a century, have given generously
of their talents and their service in the development of
our beautiful State of Ohio.

The writer is indebted to the episcopal authorities of
Ohio, His Grace, the Most Rev. John T. McNicholas, 0. P.
S. T. D. Archbishop of Cincinnati; His Grace, the Most
Rev. Joseph Sclirembs, S. D. LL. D. Archbishop — Bishop
of Cleveland; His Excellency, the Most Rev. J. J. Hartley,
S. T. D. Bishop of Columbus; His Grace, the Most Rev.
Karl J. Alter, S. T. D. Bishop of Toledo; His Excellency,
the Most Rev. James A. McFadden, S. T. D. Auxiliary
Bishop of Cleveland, for their letters of introduction to the
Superiors of the various Sisterhoods; to these Superiors
for their prompt, and kindly help in providing valuable
material from their archives; to Rt. Rev. Msgr. James M.
McDonough, Rector of Our Lady of the Lake Seminary,
Cleveland for loan of historical books ; to Longmans-Green
Co., and Sister Monica and to Benziger Bros., and Anna
Shannon McAllister for permission to use material from
their published works.

Other sources of material were : ‘ 4 The Life of Bishop
Fenwick, O.P.,” by O’Daniel; “The History of the Arch-
diocese of Cincinnati,” by Rev. J. H. Lamott; “The His-
tory of The Catholic Church in the Diocese of Cleveland,”
by Carr; “The Church in Northern Ohio,” by Houck;
the Centennial Number of “Catholic Telegraph,” Cincin-
nati; the Catholic Universe-Bulletin, Cleveland and the
Catholic Chronicle, Toledo.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Women in Osteopathy ;
Dentistry and Nursing

CHAPTER ELEVEN

WOMEN IN OSTEOPATHY, DENTISTRY
AND NURSING

OSTEOPATHY

HELEN MARSHALL GILDINGS
HELEN MARSHALL GIDDINGS, president of the Osteopathic Women’s
National Association and a leading member of her profession in Cleveland,
was born in Green Springs, Seneca County and received her professional
degree from the American School of Osteopathy.

In addition to leadership in many organizations which have developed
this branch of the science of healing, Dr. Giddings has held office and carried
responsibility in other outstanding movements, which indicate the nature and
breadth of her interests. Appreciative of the duties as well as of the obliga-
tions and opportunities of citizenship, she is one of the workers of the League
of Women Voters and of the International League for Peace and Freedom
as well as in the Cleveland Federation of Women’s Clubs and the State
Federation of Women’s Clubs. She keeps in touch with the leading and
vital questions and issues of the day and her efforts are always directed
toward progress and improvement, whether along professional or public
lines.

GERTRUD HELMECKE

GERTRUD HELMECKE, osteopathic physician and surgeon, practicing
in Cincinnati, was born in Braunschweig, Germany, September 27, 1891, and
is a daughter of Stephan A. and Marie (Engel) Helmecke, who came to the
United States during her girlhood, the father devoting his attention to mer-
cantile pursuits in Cincinnati.

After attending the grades and high school of this city, Dr. Helmecke
continued her education at the University of Michigan, where she won her
Bachelor of Arts degree in 1914. She received a diploma from the Sargent
School of Physical Education in 1916 and in 1924 she was graduated with the
D.O. degree from the American School of Osteopathy. Her college societies
are the Wyvern, the Mortar Board, and the Delta Omega, of which she is a
past president. She was at one time physical director in the State College
for Women at Denton, Texas, also taught in the high school at Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania and was a teacher in the American School of Osteopathy for
Women from 1922 to 1924. She is now engaged in private practice in Cin-

617

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WOMEN OF OHIO

cinnati, where she is meeting with gratifying success, her practice steadily
gaining in volume and importance. She is well known in professional circles,
is a member of the American Osteopathic Association, of which she was the
second vice president in 1936-7, belongs to the Ohio Osteopathic Association
and had the honor of being the first woman elected to its presidency; the
Cincinnati Osteopathic Association, of which she is also a past president ; and
the Osteopathic Women’s National Association, serving as president of its
Ohio branch in 1936-7.

Dr. Helmecke has membership in the Lutheran Church and gives her
political support to the Republican party. She belongs to the Zonta Interna-
tional and was second vice president of the Ohio branch in 1936-7. She is .|
also identified with the League of Women Voters, the Cincinnati Music Asso-
ciation and the Cincinnati Art Museum, as well as wth the Cincinnati Business
Woman’s Club. She enjoys housekeeping reading and dancing and her
favorite recreational sports are camping, swimming and roller-skating, turning J
to these for diversion from onerous professional cares. She makes her
home at 3010 Woodburn Avenue, Cincinnati.

LUCY KIRK PEEL

LUCY KIRK PEEL, an osteopathic physician of Toledo, who has also
been an outstanding worker in the temperance cause in Ohio and other ;
states, is a daughter of John G. and Minerva (Sloan) Kirk, the former born
in Kentucky and the latter in Missouri. The father followed farming through-
out his entire life. He was a son of Jesse Kirk, who, in association with the
maternal grandfather of Dr. Peel established the location of the county seat j
of Adair County, Missouri, Mr. Kirk donating the ground on which the
county courthouse still stands and the town was named Kirksville in his
honor. Dr. Peel still has a brother living there who has attained the venerable
age of ninety-two years.

The Doctor devoted her girlhood largely to the attainment of her educa-
tion in the country school and in the old Normal school at Kirksville, and
after her textbooks were put aside she became the wife of Isaiah B. Peel.
They removed to Morning Sun, Iowa, where Mr. Peel followed farming.

Dr. Peel was a graduate of the Kirksville School of Osteopathy, where she
completed her course in January, 1901. She then began practice in Findlay,
Ohio, where she followed her profession until her health became greatly
impaired due to the death of her son, Samuel Kirk Peel. There was also a
daughter in the family, Calistia Peel, who was called to the home beyond
in 1904.

For the benefit of her health Dr. Peel went to Seattle, Washington, where
she remained for a year and then, returning to Ohio, she opened an office
in Toledo where she practiced for a year. She was then chosen by the state

WOMEN OF OHIO

619

of Michigan to take up the scientific directorship of the “dry” campaign in
1916 and covered the entire state, presenting the scientific reasons for the
adoption of prohibition. She is an ardent worker in the Woman’s Christian
Temperance Union and has membership in the first Union that was ever
organized. She has held the offices of county superintendent of social morality
and of prison work in the W.C.T.U. She also has membership in the Norwood
Christian Church and she has been chairman of the Lucas County Council of
American Legion Auxiliaries. She also filled the position of chairman of the
northwest division of the American Legion Auxiliary of Ohio. She has been
widely known as a lecturer, appearing on the public platforms in many parts
of the country, addressing her audiences on questions vital to public welfare,
and she is also still actively engaged in the practice of osteopathy, in which
she has rendered a valuable service to her fellowmen. Her activities have
always largely been for the benefit of others and what she has accomplished
has ever commanded for her the respect and high appreciation of those who
know her.

JOSEPHINE PIERCE

JOSEPHINE PIERCE (Mrs. William S. Pierce) of Lima, 0., physician
and former president of the Ohio Federation of Women’s Clubs, has given
invaluable service to her community and to the state in general through ac-
tivities centering about physical health, mental health and public welfare.

I She was born at Keil, Wis., the daughter of David and Hannah Liffring,
attended Iowa State College, took her degree of D.O. at the Still College of
Osteopathy and is now in practice with her husband. For a period she was
a public school teacher. Dr. Pierce was formerly president of the Lima
Mental Hygiene Council, a trustee of the Ohio Public Health Association
and has headed the department of the American home and numerous other
departments and committees of the Ohio Federation of Women’s Clubs, as
well as the entire state organization. Her home is at Lima.

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DENTISTRY

ANN BUNTIN BECKER

A keen mind and a strong social interest seldom confine themselves to
one channel, however broad, so in the case of ANN BUNTIN BECKER, we
find a woman hard to catalogue. A practicing dentist and a force in the field
of public health and child welfare, Ann Buntin was born in Carlisle, Kentucky,
Nov. 18, 1890. Her father was Robert W. Buntin and her mother Anna H.
Adams, of a prominent Kentucky family.

Unfortunately blue blood does not always insure economic security or
even educational opportunity, and we find Ann Buntin moving to Cincinnati
at the age of eighteen, with her way to make and an interest in social service. I
First, a clerkship at the Anna Louise Inn, then dental assistant in the first
free dental clinic in the Cincinnati Public Schools. The clinic paid only $6.00
a week, so the Inn job had to continue at night — so did classes in English
and various subjects at Christ Church Parish House. A year later the clinic
produced a scholarship at the Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy. A
year out at Chicago, and back again to the clinic with her diploma. Seven
more years at the clinic, during which it grew to seven times its original
size and Miss Buntin grew to become in the language of the late Dr. Sidney
Rauh, its president, “the only trained dental social worker in the country.”
Then came a decision to study dentistry. This involved summer courses at
Miami University, and finally graduation from Western Reserve University,
with second place in the state board examinations.

So the long struggle was over — the part time jobs at clerical work,
nursing, social service, anything to help pay expenses, all work and little
play. A position was filled at Cleveland in the office of the Dean of the Dental
Department of the University for a year but illness intervened and a return
home seemed imperative. Providentially, the school clinic produced a half
time job at $200.00 as dental supervisor. This post was filled until 1925, the j
year her son was born, having taken time out in October, 1922, to marry j
Carl E. Becker, a young dentist also practicing in Cincinnati.

During the last ten years Dr. Becker, or Dr. Buntin as she is still called,
has served in many capacities and on many boards, usually in work for j
children. She has served as president of the Cincinnati Council of Parent-
Teacher Associations and for ten years in the health department of the Ohio
Congress of Parents and Teachers. She is at present a member of the board
of Shoemaker Clinic and supervisor of their dental department, member of
the board of the Central Mental Hygiene Clinic, Cincinnati League of Women :
Voters, and Hamilton County Child Welfare Board, also chairman of the j

WOMEN OF OHIO

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Committee on Government and Child Welfare, and active in many other civic
movements.

It would not seem surprising that such a person should be too busy to
arrange a formal wedding, but should select a Justice of the Peace in a small
town nearby, only to come home and confess to the rector of Christ Church
that she had missed the religious ceremony; or that the Rev. Frank H. Nelson
who had been her friend and confident should say, “Of course you missed
the church Anna and you must yet be married there. ” So on the day appointed
the bride and groom appeared as directed, to find the chapel filled with friends
and flowers, soft music, and the spirit which they had missed from the civil
ceremony. Dr. Buntin-Becker began her honeymoon in characteristic fashion
by making, with other dentists, the first dental inspection ever conducted in
Hamilton County schools.

This outline would not be complete without some mention of Dr. Buntin
at home. Such tremendous interest in community affairs would hardly pre-
pare one for the care manifest in the arrangement of old family furniture
and “ treasures’ ’ picked up at local auction sales — and for the charming little
office located in the garden where much weeding and transplanting is done
in the spare time only available to those who know not idleness.

GILLETTE HAYDEN

Comparatively few women have gained prominence in the field of den-
tistry. It remained for an Ohio woman — a Floridian by birth but an Ohioan
by adoption — to attain international fame in that profession. She was DR.
GILLETTE HAYDEN of Columbus, whose death, in 1929, left a void which
cannot be filled.

Civic affairs and equality between the sexes were two other interests
close to Dr. Hayden’s heart and in both of these fields she accomplished much.

Although she was born in Greenville, Fla., Dr. Hayden’s family home
was in Columbus at the time of her graduation from East High School, where
she was valedictorian of her class. In choosing dentistry for her profession,
she followed in the footsteps of her paternal grandfather, Dr. Horace H.
Hayden, a pioneer in that field.

Dr. Hayden was graduated from the dental department of Ohio State
University in 1902, the third woman to receive such a degree. Post graduate
work at the dental school of Northwestern University and special courses
in periodontia from authorities in this field followed and in 1903 she began
her practice in Columbus.

Two years later, she was chosen to introduce in Europe the methods of
prevention and treatment of periodontal diseases, as developed by Dr. D. D.
Smith of Philadelphia. She remained in Dresden, Germany, until 1908, re-
turning to Columbus at that time to engage in the practice of periodontia.

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WOMEN OF OHIO

It was Dr. Hayden who, with Dr. Grace Rogers Spalding of Detroit,
called together a group for the organization of a national association for
specialists in this field and in 1914, at Cleveland, there was organized the
American Academy of Periodontology. Dr. Hayden was elected president
in 1916 and later became a fellow and a member of the executive committee.
During this time she was writing for dental magazines and outlining clinical
programs for dental societies, which won for her an international reputation
as well as membership in Omicron Kappa Upsilon, honorary fraternity.

The governor of Ohio appointed her as a delegate to the Panama Pacific
International Dental Congress in San Francisco in 1915. In 1923-24, she
served as president of the Federation of American Women Dentists and
later was secretary of the periodontia section of the International Dental
Congress.

As early as 1914 the woman dentist allied herself with the Congressional
Union which was working for an amendment to the constitution establishing
woman’s suffrage. After its final ratification by the state, she continued to
work with this organization, now called the National Woman’s Party, and
contributed generously to its support. Another of her civic activities was
research necessary to prepare a digest of laws which discriminated against
women and in 1921 it was she who directed the work of changing Ohio laws
to provide equal standards for men and women.

One of Dr. Hayden’s greatest interests during her later years was the
Altrusa Club of Columbus, one of the first of the city’s classified business
and professional women’s clubs which was organized with her help in 1918.

In 1925 she served as its national president.

Tributes were many on the occasion of her death, March 27, 1929. Services
were held at national meetings of both the American Periodontology and the
National Association of Altrusa Clubs and the “ Journal of Periodontology” j j
was dedicated to her memory following her death, the first woman to be
so honored.

In February, 1931, a room to house a dental clinic for women and chil-
dren was opened in Dr. Hayden’s memory in the Sarah Hackett Stevenson
Memorial Home in Chicago. Her picture was hung in the Hall of Social
Sciences at the World’s Fair in Chicago in 1935, she being the only woman
dentist so recognized.

IDA G. ROLLINS

DR. IDA G. ROLLINS, of Cincinnati and Chicago, holds title to a unique
distinction. She is said to be the very first woman dentist of her own race
or of any other in the United States.

Choice of this profession was made after careful consideration by Ida
Rollins. She believed then a woman in dentistry might build up a special

WOMEN OF OHIO

623

patronage among women. As events developed, the skilled woman dentist
acquired more men patients than women in her extensive practice.

Mrs. Rollins was graduated from Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1890. Of
slight physique — she is just over five feet in height — she put forth extra-
ordinary effort to meet the standards she had set herself in her professional
service. After marriage she went to Chicago and continued her practice
there until her retirement several years ago.

MORTON HANNA JONES

DR. MORTON HANNA JONES of Columbus, is secretary of the Ohio
State Dental Board.

Among other outstanding women dentists of Ohio are MARIE BECKERT
of Cincinnati; NINA K. CHRISTOPHER of Cleveland; EDITH B. COOPER,
Cleveland; HELEN S. ENGLANDER, Cleveland; NELLIE GOODWIN,
Bethel; IDELLIA GRAVES, Cleveland; CELESTINE GRIME, Toledo; PAUL-
INE HEIBERT, Akron; MARY F. HOAGLAND, Columbus; HELENE A.
KAMENAR, Cleveland; RUTH D. KIRSTEN, Columbus; RUTH WAY
WALTON MAYER, Cincinnati; MARY M. MILLS, Delaware; DORA V.
MILLSBURG, Youngstown; EDNA J. MORRIS, Cincinnati; ANNA M. Mc-
CORMICK, Cincinnati; SUSIE McGARRY, Cincinnati; GENEVIEVE Mc-
MENAMY, Columbus; MYRA H. NOBLE, Lakewood; HANNA K. PERRY,
Cleveland; ALMA M. PHILLIPS, Columbus; ETHEL C. ROTHSCHILD,
Columbus; EVA H. SHAPIRO, Toledo; ALICE M. SMITH, Somerset; EVA
C. SMITH, Middletown; LENORE S. STACK, Athens; CONSUELO WISE.
Youngstown and CLARA E. YOUNG, Cincinnati.

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WOMEN OF OHIO

NURSING

ESTELLE C. KOCH

ESTELLE C. KOCH is head of the school of nursing of Cleveland City
Hospital ; Catherine Buckley heads the School of Nursing and Health of the
University of Cincinnati, affiliated with the Cincinnati General Hospital and
Sister M. Constantine heads the Mt. Carmel School of Nursing of Columbus.

Other Ohio nurses whose ability and training have won for them posi-
tions of responsibility and distinction include — MBS. ELIZABETH AUGUST,
general secretary, Ohio State Nurses Association, Columbus ; MISS CORINNE
BANCROFT, director of nursing education, Children’s Hospital, Cincinnati;
MISS LONETA CAMPBELL, director of the Visiting Nurses Association,
Cincinnati, SISTER DE CHANTAL, director of Nursing Service, Good Sa-
maritan Hospital, Cincinnati; MISS LETTIE CHRISTIANSON, director of
nursing service, Christ Hospital, Cincinnati, also president of Ohio State
League of Nursing Education ; MISS CELIA CRANZ, director of nursing
service, Akron City Hospital and president of the Ohio State Nurses Asso-
ciation ; MISS MARY H. CUTLER, director of nursing service, Jewish Hos-
pital, Cincinnati ; MISS ANN DRAKE, assistant secretary of Cincinnati
Public Health Federation and president of District No. 8, Ohio State Nurses
Association, Cincinnati; MISS MINNIE DRAHER, director of nursing serv-
ice of Bethesda Hospital, Cincinnati ; MISS MARGURITE E. FAGIN, general
secretary of District No. 8, Ohio State Nurses Association, Cincinnati ; DEAN
MARIAN G. HOWELL, director of public health nursing, Western Reserve
University, Cleveland ; MISS V. LOTA LORIMER, general secretary, District
No. 4, Ohio State Nurses Association, Cleveland ; MISS CORA McADOW,
acting director of nursing, Children’s Hospital, Cincinnati; MISS LOUISE
SCHROEDER, director of nursing service, Miami Valley Hospital, also member
of Ohio State Nurses Examining Board, Dayton ; MISS MARY SEGMILLER,
director of nursing service, Deaconess Hospital, Cincinnati ; MRS. ADA S.
STOKES, director of nursing, Babies Milk Fund Association, Cincinnati;
SISTER THEODORE, superintendent of the Good Samaritan Hospital,
Cincinnati ; MISS LOUISE K. TOOKER, director of public health nursing,
Cincinnati Department of Health ; MISS JANE TUTTLE, director of Visiting
Nurses Association, Cleveland; ECHO UPHAM (Mrs. Wilbur Dubois), former
director of nursing, Children’s Hospital, Cincinnati; MISS E. WINDLEY,
director of nursing service, Youngstown City Hospital and MISS HULDA
WYLAND, director of nursing service, Robinwood Hospital. Toledo.

i

WOMEN OF OHIO

625

GERTRUDE ASHBOLT

GERTRUDE ASHBOLT (Mrs. William E. Ashbolt), is supervisor of
Lorain County Relief Administration.

She served Overseas during the World War as graduate nurse. Mrs.
Ashbolt is mother of two boys.

ALICE G. CARR

ALICE G. CARR, nurse and social service expert, of Yellow Springs,
0., has been awarded honorary degrees by Ohio State University and by
Antioch College as an outstanding citizen. She was awarded the Order of
the Commander of St. George by the government of Greece as an outstanding
life saver — and she was awarded place of honor several months ago in the
American Legion Magazine because, although she has worked her way as
nurse, sanitary expert, distributor of relief and conqueror of disease through
France, Poland, Servia, Czechoslovakia, Greece and Asia Minor in the past
22 years, she isn’t through yet. She never expects to be through, because as
soon as she gets done with one job, world relief, there seems to some un-
answerable reason why she must take on another.

So for the past 21 years, ever since she sailed for France as nurse in the
World War, Alice Carr has been helping to rehabilitate one unfortunate old
World group after another. She has come home on visits. But she always
goes back. The need is there — it must be met — so what?

MRS. J. LEO CHILDS

MRS. J. LEO CHILDS, residing at 2203 S. Main Street in Findlay, has
for nine years served on the executive board of the Findlay Hospital and
is deeply interested in the work of keeping this institution up to the highest
standards of hospital service. Mrs. Childs was born in the city which is her
home, her natal day being November 12, 1887, and she is a daughter of
Honas and Margaret Thomas. At the usual age she began her education in
the Findlay schools but spent a part of her girlhood in Liberal, Kansas, and
was a pupil in the public schools there for a time. Later she returned to
Findlay and enrolled as a student in Findlay College, studying both instru-
mental and vocal music and also expression. Later she took a course in
nurses training at the Findlay Hospital, where she was graduated winning
the professional R.N. degree in 1911 but did not follow the calling because
of her marriage.

It was in 1912 that she became the wife of J. Leo Childs, a son of Daniel
and Minnie J. (Thompson) Childs, his father having been the founder of
the brick and tile business in Findlay. J. Leo Childs is now engaged in this
business under the name of the Hancock Brick & Tile Company. He is a
native of Henrietta, Ohio. He belongs to the Rotary Club and also lias

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WOMEN OF OHIO

membership in the Masonic fraternity. Mr. and Mrs. Childs have a son and
two daughters. James, a graduate of Ohio State University of the class of
1935, where he studied ceramics and English, then attended the Harvard
School of Business Administration, completing the course in 1937. Margaret
C., who spent three years as a student in the Western College of Women,
is now attending the Amy Sacker School of Art in Boston, Massachusetts.
Mary Jane is a high school pupil in Findlay.

While in training in the Findlay Hospital in 1911, Mrs. Childs joined
the Hospital Association with which she has since been connected and for
nine years she has done effective work as a member of its executive board.
She belongs to the Eastern Star Chapter of Findlay and she gives her political
support to the Republican party and recognizes fully the duties and obliga-
tions of citizenship in relation to civic welfare and progress.

ANNA JANSEN CORDON

ANNA JANSEN CORDON, widely known in Cleveland as a successful
physio-therapist, with offices at 1906 Rosemont Road, is the wife of S. T.
Oarlock, a real estate dealer of this city. She first attended school in Den-
mark, her native country, and came to the United States when thirteen years
of age, after which she continued her education in Brooklyn, New York. She
entered hospital training there in the old Brooklyn Hospital, which has since
passed out of existence, continuing the work there for two years and later
doing post graduate work in the hospital of Dr. Simon Baruch for a year.
She then engaged in nursing for a brief period and next went to Europe +o
study various courses, covering a period of three years, and at the same time
engaged in nursing in order to defray the expenses of her stay abroad.

On her return from Europe Dr. Cordon came directly to Cleveland, her
parents having removed to this city while she was pursuing her studies in
foreign countries. She followed nursing for a time and was then chosen
physio-therapist for the Young Women’s Christian Association, filling that
position for ten years. Later she was invited to the Woman’s Hospital, where
she had charge of the physio-therapy department for three years, after whicli
she opened an office for private practice at Seventy-first and Euclid, where
she continued for about seven years. She then established her headquarters
at 1906 Rosemont Road, where she has the most modern type of equipment
and is enjoying a very large practice, which has constantly grown since she
started out independently.

Dr. Cordon has a son, Christian Jansen Carlock who is now a student
and after the completion of his course in June, 1941, will take up practice.

Dr. Cordon is well known as a public speaker and has lectured largely
over the state. She is a very active member of the Zonta Club, which she
joined on its organization and she has been president of the Business and

WOMEN OF OHIO

627

Professional Women’s Club, was state membership chairman and served for
one term as the second vice president of Ohio.

She is likewise connected with the Federation of Women’s Clubs, is a
member of the Presbyterian Church and the Danish Sisterhood. She has
made valuable contribution to society through the training and assistance she
has given young women, encouraging and aiding them to make the most use
of their time and opportunities and has seen many proofs of the worth of
her labors in this field.

AGNES CROWE

AGNES CROWE, superintendent of Crestline Emergency Hospital, be-
came head of that institution after serving as president of the railroad
hospital.

For 32 years she was president of the Catholic Ladies’ Benevolent Asso-
ciation, organized in 1903.

NAN ROWENA EWING

Since 1933 NAN ROWENA EWING has been principal of the Toledo
Hospital School of Nursing and has given almost all of her adult life to the
profession. She is a daughter of William and Mary (Mason) Hamlett, the
former a native of Tennessee and the latter of Virginia, while Mrs. Ewing
was born in Mayfield, Kentucky. She attended private schools and continued
her education in the University of Chicago, where she majored in sociology
in 1930. In the meantime she had married Osman Ewing of Los Angeles,
California, where he was engaged in the brokerage business.

In 1915 Mrs. Ewing took up nursing in the St. Louis City Hospital, with
which she was connected for three years and then went to Camp Gordon
in Georgia, for the World War was then in progress and she aided in nursing
the soldiers in that camp. She was next in charge of a ward in the City
Hospital of St. Louis for about a year, after which she was in charge of
nursing and served as superintendent until 1919, when she accepted a position
in the Rockford City Hospital at Rockford, Illinois. From there she went
to the Lying-In Hospital in Chicago and did postgraduate work in obstetrics,
after which she engaged in private nursing duty in Chicago for several months.
On the expiration of that period she came to Ohio and in Cleveland was
obstetrical supervisor in Mt. Sinai Hospital until 1923, when she took charge
of the nursing school of the Ravenswood Hospital, there remaining until
1931, after which she was assistant to the dean of that institution for a year.

In 1933 Mrs. Ewing came to Toledo to accept the position of principal
of the Toledo Hospital School for Nursing and has since remained here,
covering a period of six years. Her previous experience and training have
well qualified her for this position, her work proving highly satisfactory to
the governing board of the institution and to the general public.

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WOMEN OF OHIO

MARY ELIZABETH GLADWIN

When MARY ELIZABETH GLADWIN, of Akron, 0., shows her medals,
which it is difficult to persuade her to do, the part that one woman can play
in the alleviation of human suffering is eloquently though mutely told. She
is English by birth, received her Ph.D. at Buchtel College and her R.N.,
cum laude, at the Boston City Hospital School of Nursing in 1903. As lecturer
and writer on nursing education, Mary Gladwin is said to have definitely
advanced the art and science to which she has devoted her life. On the
actual service side, her work is regarded as unexcelled. This service was
given in widely separated parts of the world and her medals testify to war
work equally extensive. There is the Florence Nightengale Medal of the
Red Cross, the Royal Red Cross from Serbia, the St. Anne Medal from
Russia, the Port Arthur Medal from Japan. Miss Gladwin was given the
honorary degree of L.L. D. by Akron University. She is a member of the
Overseas Nurses League, a trustee of the American Nurses Association, past
president of the Ohio Nurses Association. Her home has been at Akron I
for what this city regards as a long enough time to claim Mary Gladwin as
one of its most notable and most honored citizens.

MRS. F. J. GOSSER

MRS. F. J. GOSSER was one of the two women responsible for building
Crestline Emergency Hospital. The other was MRS. GENEVA CRAIG
MARTIN, who, with Mrs. Gosser signed a note for $4,500.00 to build the
institution.

The only hospital previously in existence was maintained by the rail-
roads to care for the injured and consisted of two second-story rooms.

Mrs. Gosser and Mrs. Martin served as volunteer nurses whenever there
was a railroad injury to be treated. They heated water at home, provided
other facilities sadly lacking. Other women also assisted in this volunteer
work. The present Crestline Emergency Hospital has 15 beds and is well
equipped.

Mrs. Gosser was graduated from the Chicago School of Nursing. For
10 years she was secretary of the Crestline Emergency Hospital and was a
charter member of the organization.

She organized the Junior Women’s Club, whose object was welfare work,
in 1933 and the Red Cross Chapter in 1934. She was president of the Crest-
line Woman’s Club for four years.

This active and interested Ohio woman is a member of the Current
Events, St. Francis DeSales Catholic Study Club of Crestline and of the
Mansfield Woman’s Club and of the Ohioana Library committee.

She served on the Crawford County Relief Committee; was chairman of
the Crawford County Christmas Seal sale, 1938; a member of the Hospital

WOMEN OF OHIO

629

Auxiliary and a member of the Presbyterian Church and belongs to executive
board, Jared Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, Mansfield, Ohio.

MARION GERTRUDE HOWELL

MARION GERTRUDE HOWELL has been dean of the School of Nursing
of Western Reserve University, Cleveland, since 1932 and has been con-
nected with public health movements and activities for eighteen years. Hers
has been an orderly progression, resulting from her constantly developing
powers and continually broadening knowledge in this field and in the pro-
fessional circles with which she is connected her name and fame are now
widely known.

Miss Howell was born in Freeport, Ohio, September 26, 1887, a daughter
of John G. and Mary Jane (Knox) Howell, her father a practicing physician.
Her paternal great-grandfather came to Ohio from Virginia and cleared land
for the family homestead in Belmont County. He married Eliza Kirk, a
daughter of Elinore Mercer Kirk, who was descended from Quaker ancestry.
The grandparents of Miss Howell had but two sons, Dr. Howell and his
brother, who was killed in the Civil War. Mary Jane Knox was of English,
Scotch and Irish descent and her mother was a Quakeress who had three
brothers in the Civil War. The Knox family came from eastern Pennsylvania
to Ohio.

After the completion of her preliminary studies, Miss Howell attended
the College of Wooster, in Wooster, Ohio, where she won her Bachelor of
Philosophy degree in 1912 and from the Lakeside Hospital of Nursing in
Cleveland she received a diploma in nursing in 1920. She also attended the
School of Applied Social Sciences of the Western Reserve University and
received her Master of Science degree in social administration and a certi-
ficate in public health nursing in 1921. She made her first contact with the
business world when she became instructor in English at the high school of
Minerva, Ohio, where she remained from 1912 to 1918. She then devoted
several years to study and was school nurse in the public schools of Fairmont,
West Virginia in 1921-22. In the following years he was instructor in public
health nursing in the University nursing district in Cleveland, after which
she was made assistant professor of public health nursing in the School of
Applied Social Sciences of Western Reserve University and acting director
of University public health nursing district, so continuing for 1923-24. She
was next associate professor of public health nursing and director of the
University public health nursing district from 1924 to 1927, and from 1927
to 1932 was professor of public health nursing and director of the University
public health nursing district. In the latter year she was made director of
nursing service, University Hospitals and professor of public health nursing
of the School of Applied Social Sciences of Western Reserve, so serving

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WOMEN OF OHIO

until 1938, while since 1932 she has been dean of the School of Nursing at
Western Reserve.

Miss Howell is widely known through her professional connections and
has been honored by election to the vice presidency of the Association of
Collegiate Schools of Nursing and is also the vice president of the National
Organization for Public Health Nursing.

Politically Miss Howell is a Republican and her religious connection is
with the Congregational Church. She belongs to the Delta Delta Delta
sorority and to Kappa Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, College of Wooster. The
breadth of her interests and her high professional standing are both indicated
in her membership in the following : National Organization for Public Health
Nursing, the Association of Collegiate Schools of Nursing, American Nurses
Association, National League of Nursing Education, American Association
of University Women, American Association of Social Workers, American
Public Health Association, American Congress on Obstetrics and Gynecology,
Ohio State Nurses Association, Ohio State League of Nursing Education,
Cleveland League of Nursing Education, Advisory Council of University
Public Health Nursing District, Health Advisory Board of the Cleveland
Humane Society, Nursing Committee of University Hospitals of Cleveland,
Nursing Council of University Hospitals of Cleveland, Prenatal Committee of
Maternity Hospital and Joint Committee on Community Nursing of the three
National Nursing Organizations.

Into the field of charitable associations Miss Howell has extended her
efforts by becoming a member of the Cleveland Health Council, the Cleveland
Child Health Association, the American Red Cross, Maternal Health Asso-
ciation, Consumers League of Ohio and the Guild of St. Barnabas for Nurses.
Miss Howell is identified also with civic organizations, being a member of the
Cleveland Museum of Art, League of Women Voters and the Musical Art
Association (Severance Hall). She also belongs to the Women’s City Club
of Cleveland and to the Women’s Faculty Club of Western Reserve Uni-
versity. Step by step she has gone forward in her chosen field of activity
and the world has profited thereby.

CARLOTTA E. LINDSAY

CARLOTTA E. LINDSAY has had broad and valuable experience in
connection with hospital work and at the present writing is active in another
field, being chief deputy of the probate court of Shelby County and a resident
of Sidney. Born in Fayette, Iowa, she is a daughter of William H. and
Agnes E. (Miller) Robertson, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of
Illinois. While spending her girlhood days under the parental roof, Mrs.
Lindsay attended the grade schools of her native city and in due time was
graduated from high school there, while later she spent two years in study
in the Upper Iowa University, working for the necessary credits which would

WOMEN OF OHIO

631

enable her to become a teacher. She then engaged in teaching school for three
years, subsequent to which time she attended the nurses training school of
the Iowa State Hospital, an institution for mental patients. On completing
the three years’ course she was graduated and for a time remained in the
institution, acting as special attendant for about a year and then serving as
matron of the hospital for five years. During the World War period in her
department she had to do with the food. She had previously been in the
office and had charge of all of the papers and clinical histories of each case,
writing and recording these.

Prior to this time Carlotta E. Robertson had become the wife of Dr.
H. A. Lindsay, who was a second assistant superintendent there and was
so serving when he joined the army for service in the World War. He had
taken a course in the Psychopathic Hospital in Boston and after his return
from the war he was advanced to the position of first assistant in the Iowa
State Hospital, where he remained until the fall of 1920 when he was ap-
pointed assistant superintendent of the State Hospital at Topeka, Kansas,
while Mrs. Lindsay was appointed to a position in connection with the board
of health in child hygiene, in which capacity she served for more than two
years.

Dr. Lindsay remained at the Topeka State Hospital for two and a half
years and then became medical superintendent of the Puritan Sanitarium,
a private institution of Kansas City, Missouri, where he continued until the
death of Dr. Owsley. Dr. and Mrs. Lindsay then came to Sidney, where he
engaged in the private practice of medicine until he passed away in Sep-
tember, 1935.

Mrs. Lindsay has continued to make her home in Sidney and in 1937 she
was appointed to the position of first deputy in the office of the probate
court. She belongs to the First Presbyterian Church and is a member of the
Louis Beyer Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, which
she joined on its organization and of which she is the present registrar. At
the time of the George Washington Bi-centennial, she wrote a three-act play
called, “Toby, the Peddler.” There were more than three hundred entrants
in the contest and her play won fourth place. At the awarding of prizes for
the plays at the convention in Washington, D. C., Mrs. Delia Amos Holbrook
Smith was present and was asked to present to Mrs. Lindsay the medal,
which she did.

Aside from her public duties, Mrs. Lindsay is widely known for she
belongs to the Tourist Club, of which she was president in 1937-38 and in
1938 she was organist for the Eastern Star. She also had charge of the
Baptist choir for a year and is well known in musical circles. Politically sin 1
is a Democrat and has served as president of the Democratic Woman’s Club
of Shelby County. Her interests have always been wide and varied, leading
to a well rounded development and to higher intellectual attainments.

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WOMEN OF OHIO

LUCILLE BROWN LINDSEY

For more than twenty years LUCILLE BROWN LINDSEY has been
engaged in public health work in Mansfield, in which city she was born Febru-
ary 13, 1887, a daughter of Eugene D. and Nellie (Brown) Lindsey. Her father,
a native of Marion, Ohio, born in 1849, was for thirty-six years engaged in
the drug business in Mansfield, where he died in 1935. Her mother, who
was born in Wadsworth, Ohio, in 1859 and died in 1928 came of Revolutionary
war ancestry. She was a daughter of Jacob R. Brown, an early Pennsylvanian
who in the opening years of the nineteenth century became the first match
manufacturer in the section of the country surrounding Wadsworth and as
the result of his efforts the Wadsworth Match Companj^ was developed. He
also had his profile engraved on a United States postage stamp in use at one
time. In the family of Eugene D. and Nellie (Brown) Lindsey were three
daughters, of whom Lillie is now a religious education teacher, and Margaret
is the wife of Jack Beattie, both being still residents of Mansfield.

Lucille B. Lindsey is one of the members of the Visiting Nurses Asso-
ciation of Mansfield. She took her training in the Cleveland City Hospital
and has attended, for special study, Child Health Demonstration Classes in
Mansfield. She has always lived in her native city and has devoted her life
to the physical welfare of . the people, especially the children. With Miss
Mary Hill she took over the responsibility of the Visiting Nurses Association
soon after it was organized in 1915 by Miss Helen Hayden, and her connec-
tion with public health work has covered more than two decades. It is her
duty to daily visit the schools, with a definite purpose to conserve the vision
of children, to promote the welfare of crippled children and to watch for and
prevent the spread of any contagious disease, and along these lines she em-
ploys the most modern scientific knowledge. She also conducts the baby clinic
in the city department of health, and at all times she keeps abreast with
modern thought, research and methods bearing upon her chosen life work.

Miss Lindsey belongs to the Ohio Nurses Association, the Red Cross and
the Evangelical church. At the time of the World war she volunteered for
overseas service but Mansfield felt that she was needed at home, so she
remained here. Her work in the influenza epidemic during the war won her
a special citation from the Red Cross.

SUE Z. McCRACKEN

SUE Z. McCRACKEN, head of the Visiting Nurses Association of Cleve-
land, has devoted the major part of her life to work of this character, although
in her earlier womanhood she engaged in teaching for a time. She is a daughter
of Elmer G. and Electa (Zeller) McCracken, both of whom were natives of
Pennsylvania and came to Ohio in 1901, settling in Grafton, where the father
was an engineer of the Standard Oil Company. In 1904 they removed to

WOMEN OF OHIO

633

Berea, this state, and Mr. McCracken was there with the Ohio Nut & Bolt
Company to the time of his death in 1935. The mother survives and still makes
her home in Berea. Their family numbered five children, two of whom died
in infancy, while H. Zeller, a veteran of the World war, died after being
gassed in one of the major engagements. He was a member of the One Hun-
dred and Forty-fourth Infantry and served for eighteen months. The surviv-
ing members of the family are Sue Z. and Mabel C., the latter a teacher in
the public schools of Cleveland.

After attending the grade schools in Beeper, Clarion County, Pennsylvania,
Sue Z. McCracken continued her studies in the high school of Grafton, Ohio,
where she was graduated in 1904. She was next a student in Baldwin Uni-
versity, where she majored in psychology and won the Bachelor of Philosophy
degree in 1909. She then taught in the grade schools of Hudson, Ohio, for a
year, after which she entered Lakeside Hospital School of Nursing and was
graduated in 1914, while subsequently she engaged in private nursing and
later in surgical nursing. She next took a course in public health nursing at
the Western Reserve University and after a year received a certificate in 1915.
She organized school nursing work at Oberlin College, after which she went
to Elyria, Ohio, organized public nursing there and established a school of
nursing in Lorain County, continuing her labors there for three years. On
the expiration of that period she became nurse examiner for the blind and
when two years had passed in that connection she returned to Elyria, where
she was with the Elyria Memorial and Gates Hospital for Crippled Children
for two years.

From Elyria Miss McCracken came to Cleveland and has been with the
Visiting Nurses Association since 1921 as supervisor with the exception of
| one year spent at the Western Reserve University, where she took a course
in psychology and social work in the School of Applied Science, and since
her return to Cleveland she has continued as the incumbent in the position
| she formerly occupied. Her seventeen years connection with the work cer-
tainly indicates her capability and her loyalty to the duties which devolve
upon her. She was consultant in the field of mental hygiene for five years
I and she has also been field instructor in a course of public health nursing,
which was a joint appointment with her position in the Visiting Nurses Asso-
[ ciation. She acted in that capacity for four years.

Miss McCracken’s life has been an extremely busy and useful one and has
| been characterized by steady advancement in the field of her ehosen pro-
fession. She is widely known through various membership connections, which
include the Baldwin-Wallace Alumni Association, the American Association
of University Women, the American Association of Psychology and Social
Workers, the Alumni Association of the School of Applied Social Science
! at Western Reserve, the Cleveland Automobile Club and the Federation of
Woman’s Clubs.

634

WOMEN OF OHIO

NORMA N. SELBERT

NORMA N. SELBERT, professor in the College of Medicine of Ohio
State University, was born in Cincinnati and received her diploma from
Christ Hospital School of Nursing.

Her M.A. was from the same college and she did post graduate work at
Yale University. For several years Mrs. Seibert was instructor at Stephens
College for Women, Columbia, Mo., and later Director of West Virginia
Health Camp.

She has been identified with the American Red Cross Nursing Service
and was a national organizer of American Girl Scouts. Among her published
articles were “Home Care of the Sick” and “ Child Health.”

SARAH SIMS

SARAH SIMS, like her sister, Mrs. Fred M. Orr, has been a figure in
the social service development of Mahoning County for 25 years. She was
superintendent of the Florence Crittenden Home for 17 years and retired in
1938 only when she had seen built and financed a fine model home for her
beloved girls.

When directors of the home heard her final resignation read, they wept
at her passing from active service. Nobody could believe that il Sadie” Sims
had given up the leadership of an institution which she had made and de-
veloped in Youngstown.

She was a daughter of John D. Sims, long time prominent Youngstown
citizen and was born and reared in Youngstown. She was educated in the
public schools and graduated among the earliest classes of the nurses’ train-
ing school of the Youngstown Hospital Association. Early in life she mani-
fested good judgment and executive ability and was picked to head her
hospital as superintendent. Under her direction the training school was
re-organized until it became one of the most important in the country.

Miss Sims organized public school nursing in Youngstown and served
for some years with that group. Since her retirement she has spent her time
visiting friends throughout the country, in travel and leisurely pursuit of
music, reading, all the things that she has never had time to do.

MARY J. TAYLOR

In 1937 MARY J. TAYLOR became superintendent of the Wilson Me-
morial Hospital of Sidney, bringing to the work thorough training, long
experience and a sympathetic understanding of people, coupled with a most
earnest desire to be of real assistance to her fellowmen.

Mrs. Taylor was born in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, a daughter of
James and Ella (Reinhart) Johnston, the former dying during the early

WOMEN OF OHIO

635

childhood of Mrs. Taylor. The mother, who survived until 1928, became a
teacher in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, and it was there that the
daughter attended school until she had completed her preliminary work in
the grades. Later she attended the Normal School of Westchester, in her
native state and when but fifteen years of age she began teaching, which
profession she followed for nine years. Feeling that she might direct her
efforts into a field of greater usefulness, she entered the Alliance City
Hospital and Deaconess Home of the Reformed Church, at Alliance, Ohio,
where she took a course of training in nursing and was graduated with
the class of 1909, thus gaining the initial experience which prepared her
for the professional and humanitarian work she is now doing.

In 1910 Mary J. Johnston was married to Edward W. Taylor, who was
engaged in the automobile business at the time of his death in 1927. After
their marriage they established their home in Alliance, Ohio and Mrs. Taylor
took up nursing in connection with the schools and the Associated Charities
Nursing organization, also under the auspices of the United Missionary
Societies. This was the beginning of her public nursing. Later the schools
took over the nursing when Mrs. Taylor removed to Norwalk, Ohio, where she
did not engage in public work. However, while there she was a member of
the Presbyterian Church and its missionary society, and was the teacher of
the Loyalty class in the Sunday school.

Following the death of her husband she returned to Alliance and took
j the position of secretary of the Woman’s Club, serving in that capacity for
six years. She finally accepted the proffered position of superintendent of
nurses in the Alliance City Hospital, and the six years of her connection
with that institution was a period of unusual success, in which she was
largely instrumental in building up an excellent hospital, rendering a splendid
service to the community. She then resigned in 1937 to become superintendent
! of the Wilson Memorial Hospital in Sidney, where she is still located as the
head of the institution. Her aims are high, her methods are practical and
her labors are beneficially resultant.

While in Alliance Mrs. Taylor was a member of the Alliance Woman’s
Club, the Quota Club and the Sorosis and in Sidney she belongs to the
Woman’s Club, the Business Woman’s Club and to the Evangelical Reformed
| Church.

MARTHA FLEETA THOMAS

MARTHA FLEETA THOMAS, president of the Florence Crittenden
Home of Columbus, O., and assistant secretary of the Ohio Public Health
Association, was born at East Liberty, 0., the daughter of Rolla and Nettie
Thomas. She attended the Inskeep Music School at Marion, 0., and later
the Office Training School of Columbus.

636

WOMEN OE OHIO

She became a skilled musician and for a time was a teacher of music, also i
a professional accompanist and organist. In 1933 she was made president |
of the Florence Crittenden League and a leader in the Women’s Committee
on Public Welfare of Ohio. She has done outstanding work in the health
field, co-operating actively with anti-tuberculosis groups, with the Ohio
Federation of Public Health Officials and similar organizations. Her home
is at 72 South Fourth St., Columbus.

MARY ELIZABETH YAGER

MARY ELIZABETH YAGER, superintendent of the Women’s and Chil-
dren’s Hospital of Toledo, has devoted her entire life to nursing service in
which she had made continuous advancement until she has reached a high
point of efficiency. A native of New York, she was born in Dellwood, near
Buffalo, a daughter of John and Elizabeth Yager, the former a native of
New York City, while the mother was born in Germany. Mary E. Yager
attended the public schools of Buffalo, passing through consecutive grades
to the high school, and later entered the Genessee School of Nursing at
Rochester, New York. After completing her training there she became oper-
ating room supervisor and next went to Worcester, Massachusetts, where she
was made assistant superintendent of nursing in the Worcester Memorial
Hospital. She spent several years there and then became assistant superin-
tendent of the Niagara Falls Memorial Hospital at Niagara Falls, New York.
Her next assignment placed her in the position of teaching supervisor of the
City Hospital of Indianapolis, Indiana, her salary being paid by the Uni-
versity of Indiana. When leaving that position several years later she went
to Latrobe, Pennsylvania, where she was superintendent of the Latrobe
Hospital.

Each change Miss Yager has made in her professional connections has
brought her a wider outlook and broader opportunities and she has met the
various requirements with a skill and understanding that has grown with
the passing years and her added experience. From Pennsylvania she went
to Omaha, Nebraska, where she was superintendent of the Presbyterian
Hospital and while there she took some special work at the University of
Nebraska. Returning eastward, she became superintendent of the Lawrence
Memorial Hospital at New London, Connecticut and in 1920 she accepted a
call to Toledo as superintendent of the Women’s and Children’s Hospital,
which has since been the field of her labors. She has raised its standards and
introduced various modern and improved methods and the fact that she has
remained at this institution for almost two decades is proof of her most
satisfactory service.

Miss Yager belongs to the Genessee Hospital Alumni Association and the
Ohio Hospital Association, of which she was president for several years.
She is also a life member of the American Hospital Association and has

WOMEN OF OHIO

637

membership in the Ohio State Nurses Association, serving for two years as
president of its ninth district, representing the Toledo group of the American
Nurses Association. She is a Fellow of the American College of Hospital
Administrators, which she joined on its organization and she became an
American Red Cross nurse, when the work was organized in 1905, her number
being 98. She is secretary of the Hospital Service Association of Toledo,
which was organized in 1938, largely through her efforts and for a number
of years she was a member of the Children’s Bureau of Toledo.

Miss Yager belongs to the Zonta Club International and is a charter
member of the Toledo branch and one of its past presidents, while at the
present time she is district governor of district No. 6, which includes all of
Ohio, western New York and a part of Canada.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Women in the Law

FLORENCE ALLEN

Judge of the Sixth Circuit, United States Circuit Court of
Appeals, Cincinnati and Cleveland

CHAPTER TWELVE

WOMEN IN THE LAW

By FLORENCE E. ALLEN

Judge of the Sixth Circuit, U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals

Women of the bench and bar can be glad that they live in Ohio,
for this state has recognized women of our profession to a remarkable
degree. Women have been elected and re-elected judge of the Probate
Court, of the Municipal Court of Cleveland, and of the Supreme Court
of Ohio.

A woman has been elected judge of the Court of Common Pleas,
and County Prosecutor. A woman has been member of the State
Industrial Commission. Women have been appointed Assistant County
Prosecutor, and by appointment have held positions in the City Law
Department. Women have acted as city solicitors in this state, and
as attorneys for various state boards and agencies.

For the sympathy, understanding and support of our home state,
women of the bench and bar are grateful. Their earnest desire is
that by their industry, intelligence and character they may prove
themselves worthy of the confidence of their clients and of their con-
stituents.

FLORENCE ELLIN WOOD ALLEN

FLORENCE ELLINWOOD ALLEN is, so far, the only woman in the
world to sit on a judiciary bench of general jurisdiction. When she was
appointed to the United States Circuit Court, Sixth Circuit, in 1934 the news-
papers of the world, from Africa to Iceland, from the Argentine to Alaska,
devoted whole pages to the life story of the jurist who is Professional Woman
No. 1 of her state and nation. Magazines followed suit.

The stories varied naturally. They reflected the taste and tempo of the
publication, even its nationality. British papers discovered pleasing British
traits in the distinguished American, French found Gallic virtues, Japanese
doubtless ditto. But one significant phrase, originating, it seems, in an article
printed in the Youngstown Vindicator, October 28, 1938, constituted, none
the less, the basic theme. It has been sounded, with variations, modulations

641

642

WOMEN OF OHIO

and elaborations, again and again — “An American woman, a woman as
American as Indian corn.” Simple as it sounds, it is doubtful if in sense in
which it was used, there could have been worded a higher tribute, nor one
in which Ohio in special can take more pride.

Judge Allen was not born in Ohio. But her ancestry is almost inseparable
from Ohio history and her career is identified with the state that honors her
as its ablest woman worker.

Her father’s people, of famed “Ethan Allen” stock, came from Rhode
Island and settled along Lake Erie before the war of 1812, in which all the
able men of the family enlisted. They cleared land. They farmed. They
taught school — Judge Allen herself was a teacher in Cleveland schools for
several years. Their heritage of high intelligence often landed them on the
faculties of colleges.

C. E. Allen, father of Florence, was professor of Latin and Greek at
Western Reserve University, where as a student he won academic honors.
He won other honors also. A bronze tablet installed 10 years or more ago
at Western Reserve records the erstwhile flaming fact that during the year
“Emir” Allen pitched the first curved ball, it is said, in Ohio college history,
the university defeated all contestants.

But presently “Emir” Allen decided, as did so many forward looking
men and women of his agej to go west. He took his family to Utah. It was
at Salt Lake City, March 23, 1884, that Florence Allen came into the world.
Life was no bed of roses for any of the seven children of the Allen household.
Their home was at first an adobe cabin. The community offered no adequate
educational opportunities. So Emir Allen taught his children himself. He
certainly knew how. When Florence was four years old she could read
fluently and that same year she learned the Greek alphabet as surprise for
her father.

She began to study Latin at seven, wrangled definitely with Greek at
eight. About this time the famous Allen family orchestra got its start in
life. This was Mrs. Allen’s doing. Herself an accomplished musician, Mrs.
Allen taught her children how to play — and really play — the piano, violin,
cello. They still have the family song book. Its original compositions were
written for amusement, for birthdays, for family reunions, neighborhood
get togethers.

It takes more than one parent to account for the character energy and
ability of a Florence Allen. Dr. Jacob Tuckerman, Judge Allen’s maternal
grandfather, was one of the earliest graduates of Oberlin College. For over
60 years he headed Ohio centers of higher education. He was president of
Farmers College, Cincinnati, of Grand River Institute, of New Lynne Insti-
tute. He was also one of the earliest advocates of higher education for
women. So Corinne Tuckerman, Judge Allen’s mother, went to Smith Col-
lege the very first year that famous institution opened. Each of the first

WOMEN OF OHIO

643

three classes graduated from Smith carried at least one of the Tuckerman
sisters on its roll. No wonder that, in 1926, Smith College conferred the
honorary degree of LL.D. on Judge Allen.

Well, the Allen children grew up happily and healthily. Their father
became the first congressman from the State of Utah. But their roots were
in Ohio. Florence went from Salt Lake Academy to New Lynne Institute,
Ashtablua County, Ohio, and then to Western Reserve University at Cleve-
land, where she was graduated with honors in 1904.

But Western Reserve refused, sadly but firmly, despite the splendid
record of Florence Allen, to admit a woman to its law school. That was
something they just couldn’t do. Refusal, they doubtless made clear, hurt
them deeply. How true this was, however, could hardly have been realized
until later, when New York University gave Florence Allen the first law
degree — and afterward the first LL.D. — ever granted a woman.

Difficulties have always been, to Florence Allen, something to be sur-
mounted. It was this gift of quiet but unlimited courage, combined with an
equal endowment of good sense and good judgment, that have yielded her
the success denied to many highly talented less sagacious women. Nothing
illustrates this better than Judge Allen’s deliberate change of career, when
scarcely out of girlhood. At that time music was her choice of profession.
She loved music with a devotion that spared no effort or outlay for proper
I training of her undoubtedly fine talent. Her intensive study of the piano,
I continued for two years in Berlin under the ablest masters, fitted her beyond
; question for the concert stage. Then fate showed its hand. Florence had
j seriously injured a nerve in her arm. The fact had to be faced. The injury,
I it had to be admitted, would make impossible the work of concert pianist.

A less courageous woman might have given up hope for any professional
I career. One less wise might have persisted in trying to hold to the profession
I of music, might have clung obstinately, and hysterically, to her first love,
j But fate gave Florence Allen a judicial mind. She knew, even then, how to
i weigh circumstances and situations.

Life had other deep interests for her. Here was but a challenge to a new
l and perhaps better work.

To this day, Judge Allen plays Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Schumann,

I Bach — the other masters — for diversion. She plays them masterfully — with-
out a score. But she has never for a moment regretted taking, when the first
I road ended, a new road.

For awhile she was music critic on the staff of the Cleveland Plain
j Dealer. For awhile she taught at Laurel School, Cleveland. In 1908 she
i took her A.M. degree in political science and constitutional law at Western
Reserve University. In 1909-1910 she studied at Chicago University Law
I School, then entered New York University Law School, got her degree and
I in 1914 was admitted to the Ohio bar.

644

WOMEN OF OHIO

Since this milestone, Judge Allen has pursued a legal career thickly
punctuated with firsts. In 1919 she was appointed assistant county prosecutor
of Cuyahoga County, first Ohio woman to hold such a position. In 1920 she j
was elected judge of the Court of Common Pleas by the greatest vote ever
given any judicial candidate for that court. This made her the first woman
to sit in a court of general jurisdiction, civil or criminal.

In 1922 Judge Allen was elected to the Supreme Court of Ohio for a
six year term. First woman in the world to sit in a court of last resort. In
1928 she was re-elected to Ohio Supreme Court by 350,000 majority. In 1934
Judge Allen was appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as United
States Circuit Court Judge, Sixth Circuit — first woman to sit in a federal
court of general jurisdiction.

Another first has been widely suggested, Judge Allen has been strongly
recommended as excellent material for the Supreme Court of the United
States. As a matter of fact, in 1936 the already world famous woman judge, ;
was compelled to publish an emphatic refusal to become a women’s party
candidate for the presidency of the United States. Innumerable organiza-
tions, men’s as well as women’s have honored her.

Well, what next? Quo vadis, Florence Allen?

ELSIE P. AUSTIN

The first Negro woman graduated from the College of Law of the Uni-
versity of Cincinnati has the added distinction of being the first Negro
woman assistant to the Attorney-General of Ohio. This is ELSIE P. AUSTIN,
appointed by the Attorney-General, Herbert S. Duffy.

Miss Austin was born at Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee, Ala., where her
mother, Mrs. Mary Louise Austin, now on the staff of the Stowe School,
Cincinnati, was teaching in the Department of Household Sciences, and her
father, the late Major George J. Austin, was Commandant, in charge of the
men in the student body. Major Austin later entered the service of the
United States Army, remained in the reserves after he came to Cincinnati to
engage in the insurance business, and was commissioned a Major shortly !
before his death in 1930.

Miss Austin received the greater part of her education in the Cincinnati
public schools. She was graduated from Walnut Hills High School in 1924,
and received her A.B. degree from the University of Cincinnati in 1928. She
took her first year of law at the Cincinnati school, studied for a year in the
law school of the University of Colorado — where she was on the case review
staff of the Rocky Mountain Law Review — and returned to Cincinnati to
complete her legal education, receiving her LL.B. in 1930. She was one of
the eight students appointed on the basis of scholarship and merit to the
staff of the Cincinnati Law Review.

ELSIE AUSTIN

first woman of her race made Assistant
Attorney-General of a state

WOMEN OF OHIO

647

Miss Austin was appointed in 1934 to the Board of Trustees of Wilber-
force University, Negro college at Wilberforce, Ohio. She is a member of
Delta Sigma Theta, National Negro Sorority; member of the Columbus
Branch, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

GRACE A. BERGER

GRACE A. BERGER, member of the Cleveland bar and now filling the
position of bailiff in the court of domestic relations, is a native daughter of
the city in which she makes her home and her parents, Albert C. and Florence
A. (Beach) Berger, were also born in Ohio. Her father engaged in the
commission business for some time and afterward turned his attention to the
real estate business. He passed away in 1896 and his wife, surviving him for
twenty years, died in 1916. They had a family of two sons and two daughters,
but William, the eldest, died in childhood. Grace was born March 28, 1883.
A. Raymond, born January 28, 1893, is a paving contractor of Cleveland and
married Elma V. Rock, a daughter of Frederick and Helene Rock. Raymond
and his wife have one son, Beach, who is now in college. Abigail, the youngest
of the family, is the wife of Cyrus Bosworth, who is engaged in the engineering
business in Cleveland, and they have one son, Cyrus Bosworth, Jr., who is
now a student in Antioch College.

At the usual age Grace Berger entered the public schools of Cleveland
and passed through consecutive grades to the high school from which she
was graduated with the class of 1902. She then enrolled as a student in
Oberlin College, where she remained for two years. She prepared for a
professional career at the John Marshall Law School and was admitted to
the bar in 1925. While still a law student she was appointed to her present
position as bailiff in the department of domestic relations in the common
pleas court, which office she has continuously filled for fourteen years, her
particular work being the care of women who come before the court because
of the failure of their husbands to support them. In the discharge of her
duties she has proved most tactful, helpful and efficient and her work has
received the strong endorsement of the general public as well as of the
members of the bar.

Miss Berger is a member of the Portia Club, a league of women lawyers,
and also belongs to the Woman’s City Club, the Cleveland Bar Association,
the Ohio State Bar Association and the American Bar Association.

MILDRED PACK BERGERON

MILDRED PACK BERGERON of Cleveland, is a practicing attorney
who has won public recognition in civic work as well. She is president of

Phi Delta Delta.

648

WOMEN OF OHIO

MRS. THOMAS VOGEL BEXLEY
MRS. THOMAS VOGEL BEXLEY of Columbus, Ohio, daughter of the
late Timothy Hogan, former attorney-general of the state, was the first
woman attorney to be appointed to the Industrial Commission at Columbus, j

GERTRUDE MARIE BONHOLZER
GERTRLTDE MARIE BONHOLZER, attorney at law and public account-
ant of Dayton, 0., was born in that city, the daughter of Nicholas H. and
Anna P. Bonholzer. She took her B.S.C. at the Dayton College of Commerce :
and Finance, her LL.B. at Dayton Law College and did graduate work at
Columbia University and at Wittenberg College. Miss Bonholzer was ap-
pointed deputy recorder of Montgomery County in 1930 and remained in
this position four years. She is active in civic and professional organizations, j
Her residence is at 211 McClure St., Dayton.

ERNESTINE ELMA BREISCH
ERNESTINE ELMA BREISCH, a member of the Dayton bar who has
engaged in general practice since 1931 and who had the honor to be the first
woman to serve as acting judge in Dayton, was born in Moundsville, West
Virginia, February 16, 1906, a daughter of Ernest Elmer and Belle (Wallace)
Breisch. The father, who was born in April, 1868, was of German descent,
and the mother, born September 2, 1878, was of Scotch, Irish and English
lineage. Ernestine E. Breisch was very young when her parents removed
from West Virginia to Bloomsburgh, Pennsylvania, where they remained for
three years and then established the family home in Martins Ferry, Ohio,
where she remained from 1910 to 1925 and during that time attended the |
public schools until graduated from the high school with the class of 1924.
She was afterward a student in the Y. M. C. A. Law School of Dayton and
was admitted to the bar in 1929. About that time she was employed as tax
counsellor by Wall, Cassel & Eberyl, certified public accountants, with whom
she remained until 1931, when she began the general practice of law, in which
she has since continued, specializing however in corporation and trade asso-
ciation work. She is now attorney for the Dayton Jobbers and Manufacturers
Association and The Retail Grocer}^ Association and is particularly well in- j
formed concerning the legal principles which apply thereto.

Ernestine E. Breisch belongs to the Dayton Women Lawyers’ Club, of
which she was the first president and she was temporarily acting judge in
Dayton, having the distinction of being the first woman to occupy the bench
in this city. She is the author of various syndicated articles, which have
been published in the Tax Magazine and few lawyers are better informed
on matters of taxation or can present the matter in as lucid and logical a
manner. She belongs to the Ohio Bar Association, the National Woman’s

WOMEN OF OHIO

649

party and was a former member of its state board, the Dayton Women’s
Press Club and the 99ers, a national women’s flying organization.

In Toledo, Ohio, November 15, 1935, Ernestine E. Breisch and Roger K.
Powell were married. He was born in Mount Gilead, Ohio, October 30, 1902,
a son of Judge L. K. and Carrie (Dalrymple) Powell, the former judge
of the probate court and common pleas court of Morrow County and also
judge of the Ohio court of appeals. Mr. Powell was graduated from the
University of Michigan in 1923, having won both the Bachelor of Arts and
the Bachelor of Laws degrees.

ESTHER HELENA BROCKER

ESTHER HELENA BROCKER, Lancaster, 0., attorney, is the city
solicitor of the city of Lancaster, 0. She was born at Springfield, 0., the
daughter of James and Mary Light and took her LL.B at the Columbus
College of Law.

Mrs. Brocker was formerly executive secretary of the Hermann Manu-
facturing Company and was previously a member of the business administra-
tion staff of U. S. Army Ordnance Department. She is active in the Y. W.
C. A., the Fairfield County Bar Association and the Ohio State Bar Asso-
ciation. Her home is at 354 E. Chestnut St., Lancaster, 0.

GENEVIEVE ROSE CLINE

GENEVIEVE ROSE CLINE, Judge of the U. S. Customs Court of New
York City, is the first woman occupying this position, to which she was
j appointed in 1928 by President Coolidge.

She was born at Warren, Ohio, the daughter of Edward B. and Mary Fee
Cline, attended Oberlin College and received her LL.B. from Baldwin- Wallace
College in 1921. She was admitted to the bar the same year and practiced
law at Cleveland in partnership with her brother, John M. Cline, for a suc-
cessful period that was interrupted by her appointment to the position of
j U. S. Appraiser of Merchandise for the port of Cleveland.

Despite the responsibilities of this important service, Judge Cline has
found time and energy to participate in civic and social welfare work. She
was president for two years of the Cleveland Federation of Women’s Clubs
j and for six years legislation chairman of the Ohio Federation of Women’s
j Clubs. Her present residence is at 33 Washington Square, West, New York.

REGINA B. CROSS

REGINA B. CLOSS, one of the successful women attorneys of Cincinnati,
daughter of Frederick and Estella Franz Closs, was admitted to the bar,
as an honor graduate of the Cincinnati Law School and the University of
Cincinnati, in 1922.

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WOMEN OF OHIO

A former Republican State Committee woman, and notarial examiner for
Hamilton County, she is now engaged in general practice, specializing in the
law of estates and real property.

MARY LOVE COLLINS

MARY LOVE COLLINS, Cincinnati attorney and national president of
the Chi Omega, a fraternity of college women devoted to progress and
fellowship, decided, nearly 15 years ago, that there are aspects of charac-
teristic human conduct badly in need of formulation and clarification.

Especially about human conduct in its relation to the law. Fortunately
the fraternity she heads agreed with her. As result of this co-operation,
“Human Conduct and the Law” written by Mary Love, was published in
1925.

Unusual significance of the book, its clarity, logic and philosophy, have
challenged attention of many who agree with the author that — •

“Life is a baffling scene if we see it only as innumerable and separate
facts. It is simplified only as we realize that the most zigzag routes and
carefully draped devices have their starting point in some human impulse.
In order to free ourselves of the confusion incident to possessing only scattered
facts it is wise that human conduct be divested of its disguises.”

Mary Love received her A.B. and M.A. degrees at Dickinson College,
her LL.B. at the University of Kentucky, did graduate work at the Uni-
versity of Chicago. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, of the American
Bar Association, the American Academy of Political Science and of Cin-
cinnati Chapter, D. A. R. In addition to her book on human conduct she has
had published authoritative articles on similar subjects.

AGNES BRYANT DICKINSON

AGNES BRYANT DICKINSON, first woman to be appointed to the staff
of the attorney general of Ohio, is at present in private practice at Columbus.
She was born at Moline, 111., the daughter of Rev. Carter C. and Ella Bryant
and received her LL.D. from Ohio State University in 1927. She is deeply
interested in civic, political and international affairs and is a former board
member of the advisory council of the Columbus Foreign Policy Association.
She resides at 564 Oak St., Columbus.

ETHEL ELDER

ETHEL ELDER, formerly probate judge in Morrow County, is a
southerner by birth and attended Athens University at Athens, Ga. She
came to Mt. Gilead, 0., her mother’s native town, on a visit and deciding
to stay in the north, she did secretarial work in the office of Judge L. K.

WOMEN OF OHIO

651

Powell, at that time registering for the state bar. After a year she obtained
appointment as deputy in the office of the Clerk of Courts and some time
later was elected probate and juvenile judge for Morrow County, serving ten
years in this position.

Ethel Elder has the distinction of having been the first woman probate
judge of the State of Ohio. She was also the first woman official of Morrow
County. During her tenure of office she read law assiduously and familiarized
herself thoroughly in court procedure covering the administration of estates
and in numerous technicalities.

While serving as probate judge Miss Elder was admitted to the practice
of law in Ohio and since retiring from the bench she has been actively
engaged as an attorney in Mt. Gilead.

LEONA M. ESCH

LEONA M. ESCH, Cleveland attorney, is the operating director of the
Cleveland Association for Criminal Justice, the second oldest organization
for systematized study of conditions that make for criminality in the United
States.

She was born in Cleveland, the daughter of Dr. William J. and Frances
Esch and received her LL.B. at Baldwin- Wallace College in 1923. She is
the author of many widely published articles on law, crime, criminals and
prisons and lectures on basic phases of law enforcement.

Miss Esch is not only the only woman director of a crime commission
in this country but is also the only woman ever appointed by the American
Bar Association to the prison committee of the Criminal Law section of
that great organization.

ENID WARE FOSTER

ENID WARP] FOSTER (Mrs. Owen L. Foster), Mechanicsburg, 0.,
attorney and director of the Mechanicsburg Public Library, was born at
Mechanicsburg, the daughter of Joseph and Sarah Jones. She was educated
at Adrian College, married Owen Lovejoy Foster, attorney and was for a
period member of the law firm of Foster and Foster, of Toledo, 0. She is
an active member of the Toledo Women Lawyers Club and was first president
of the Toledo Federation of Women’s Clubs. Her home is at Mechanicsburg.

MRS. VASHTI JONES FUNK

MRS. VASHTI JONES FUNK, of the firm of Jones and Jones, Zanesville,
is secretary of the Farm Loan Bank of that community and well known in
legal circles.

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WOMEN OF OHIO

FANYEROSE GANCFRIED

Ohio women who have taken up the practice of law have reflected credit
upon the history of the bench and bar of the state. They have held to the
high ethical standards of the profession and earnest purpose to secure justice
has been the strong actuating spirit in their work. In this connection mention
should be made of FANYEROSE GANCFRIED, who is practicing successfully
in Youngstown and the court records bear testimony to the many favorable
verdicts she has won.

Miss Gancfried was born in Youngstown, April 7, 1908, her parents being
Harry R. and Lily (Liebman) Gancfried, the father connected with the life
insurance business as an underwriter. The daughter pursued her education
in the public schools, passing through consecutive grades to her graduation
from the Rayen High School as a member of the class of 1925. She entered
business circles as a life insurance underwriter with the Sun Life Insurance
Company of Canada, but laudable ambition prompted her to qualify for the
bar and she enrolled as a student in the Youngstown Law School, from
which she was graduated in 1930 with the Bachelor of Laws degree. On
the 12th of February of the same year she was admitted to the bar and on
the 20th of November, 1933, she was admitted to practice in the federal courts.
She took up the general practice of law in Youngstown and it was soon
evident that she prepared her cases with thoroughness and care and that
she was most loyal to the interests of her clients while at the same time she
never forgot that she owed a still higher allegiance to the majesty of the
law. These characteristics of her work soon gained her a growing clientage
and she has had much trial practice. She belongs to both the Mahoning
County and State Bar Associations.

Miss Gancfried also has many other interests. She is a member of the
Business and Professional Women’s Club, of which she is serving as the first
vice president and she is a member of the board of the Youngstown Federation
of Women’s Clubs, in which she has served as chairman of the committee on
American citizenship and also as chairman of the legislation committee. Her
political allegiance had always been given to the Democratic party and she
keeps well informed on vital political and civic questions. In 1936 she was
a candidate on the party ticket for the office of judge of the court of common
pleas, division of domestic relations. She has been active in many political
organizations and discusses most intelligently the questions of the day.

Miss Gancfried has also been helpfully associated with welfare societies
and she is vice president of Rodef Sholam Sisterhood. Naturally her chief
interest is the practice of law, but sound judgment has enabled her to wisely
divide her time between diverse but important interests of a public character
with music as her diversion.

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653

CAROLINE IRENE GRIESHEIMER

To few women have come the recognition of superior talent and com-
prehensive knowledge that was accorded CAROLINE IRENE GRIESHEIMER,
now of Chillicothe, during her long connection with the United States Civil
Service Commission in Washington, D. C. The requirements of her position
were most exacting, demanding learning and insight of the broadest scope
and frequently of the most unusual combination. In every instance she
measured up to the requirements of her work and received the commendation
and regard of all who knew of her activities.

A daughter of Adam and Caroline (Feick) Griesheimer, she was born,
reared and educated in Chillicothe, attending the public schools until grad-
uated from high school. It was her purpose to enter the educational field
and for twelve years she was a teacher in the Chillicothe schools and for
nine years of that time was employed as deputy clerk by Judge B. F. Stone
in the probate court of Ross County, working after school hours, on Saturdays
and through vacation periods. It was thus that she laid the foundation for
the legal training which she later received.

Her interest having been awakened in the practice of law, Miss Gries-
heimer studied at the Washington College of Law, in Washington, D. C.,
receiving her LL.B. degree in May, 1899 and her Master of Law degree in
1901. Two years later, in 1903, the Master of Science degree was conferred
upon her by Columbian University, now the George Washington University
of Washington, D. C. In September, 1899, after a severe examination in the
District of Columbia, she was admitted to- the bar of the supreme court of
the District and in 1901 she was admitted to practice before the appelate
courts of the District of Columbia. In 1912 she was admitted to practice in
the supreme court of the United States. She had the distinction of being
the first woman in Chillicothe to graduate in law and moreover was the first
woman of this city to be admitted to practice in the various courts of the
District of Columbia and the first Chillicothe woman to be admitted to
practice before the United States supreme court.

In 1890 Miss Griesheimer passed, with the highest record, the examination
held by the United States Civil Service Commission for positions in the
United States government at Washington, D. C., and in July, 1891, she was
appointed to a position in the United States treasury department, where she
did confidential work for Hon. Charles Foster.

In September, 1891, because of her superior education and training,
Miss Griesheimer became the Treasury’s professional examiner at the United
States Civil Service Commission. A few years later she was transferred per-
manently to the Civil Service Commission, being the first woman to remain
permanently a professional examiner at the Civil Service Commission. She
had charge of the preparation of tests and the rating of papers of all law

654

WOMEN OF OHIO

examinations, professional educators, foreign service (diplomatic and con-
sular), designations to West Point and Annapolis. The law examinations
and foreign service examinations covered a broad field, governmental, his-
torical, economics, finance and international law, treaties and other matters.
In fact, a few words cannot adequately describe the multiplicity of her duties
at the United States Civil Service Commission. When a new position was
created in a department, calling for high and a peculiar and unusual com-
bination of education, training and experience, she consulted the head of the
department, studied the position to be filled and then worked out the scope
of requirements and the test by examination of applicants for the said posi-
tion. This often is a very difficult matter to decide, because of the peculiar
or high position to be filled. Tact, knowledge and personality were required,
together with a wonderful memory. One cannot estimate the broad field of
knowledge required of a professional examiner.

Miss Griesheimer worked five years under Commissioner Theodore Roose-
velt, afterward president of the United States. Her life in Washington,
D. C. was a very happy one, for she derived much interest and satisfaction
from her work and her many contacts with people of ability and prominence.
She was one of the founders of the famous Women’s City Club. She com-
pleted forty-one years of work at the Civil Service Commission, retiring in
July, 1932. While in Washington she reared her two young nephews and
educated them. She met many distinguished women lawyers and her mem-
ories of the national capital are most interesting. She now spends her leisure
in reading, visiting and artistic needlework, her entire life being enriched with
her experiences of the past.

MARY BELLE GROSSMAN

MARY BELLE GROSSMAN, judge of the municipal court of Cleveland
since 1923, has always resided in this city with the exception of the year
1895-6, spent in St. Louis, Missouri. She was born in Cleveland, June 10,
1879, a daughter of Louis and Fannie (Engle) Grossman, both of Hungarian
descent, the former born August 19, 1839, and the latter March 19, 1844. After
attending the public schools, she was graduated from the Cleveland Law
School, the law department of Baldwin- Wallace College, in June, 1912, with
the Bachelor of Laws degree.

Following her admission to the bar in that year she opened a law office
and engaged in practice until 1923 when she was elected judge of the
municipal court for a six years’ term. She had been admitted to practice in
the United States district courts in 1922 and in 1932 was admitted to practice
in the United States supreme court. In 1925 she became the first woman to
preside over the traffic court and the following year she organized the morals
court. In 1929 she was reelected for the six years’ term, as she was again in

MARY B. GROSSMAN

Judge of the Municipal Court of Cleveland

WOMEN OF OHIO

657

1935, so that her present term will continue until 1941. It is a notable record,
having already covered sixteen years service on the bench and the endorse-
ment of her work is found in her three elections to the office in which the
public feels that she has rendered a distinct benefit to the city in the field
of constructive justice. She is especially interested in the social phases of
the administration of criminal justice, particularly as regards constructive
recreation, and proper segregation and classification of physically, mentally
and morally unfit as a means of crime prevention.

Judge Grossman gives her political support to the Republican party.
She is an honorary member of the Kappa Beta Pi, the international legal
sorority and she is one of the two women first admitted to membership in
the American Bar Association, this being in 1918. She also belongs to the
Cleveland Bar Association, the Cuyahoga County Bar Association, the Com-
mercial Law League of America, the National Association of Women Lawyers
and the National Probation Association.

Holding to the faith of her people, Judge Grossman also has membership
in the Women’s Auxiliary of the National Jewish Congress and the Women’s
Auxiliary of the Order of B’nai Brith, the Cleveland Council of Jewish
Women, the Temple Women’s Association and Hadassah, while of the Women’s
City Club of Cleveland, the Business and Professional Women’s Club and
the Altrusa Club, she is a charter member. She likewise has membership
connection with the Consumers League and the League of Women Voters,
all of which is indicative of the breadth of her sympathies and her wide
understanding of the problems that affect public welfare and of the oppor-
tunities that are offered for individual and mass advancement. At the time
of the World War she met the demand for individual service as one of the
“Four minute speakers,” and whenever the interests of community, common-
wealth or country are at stake, her strongly felt influence is exerted for the
general good with telling results.

JOSEPHINE L. GUITTEAU

JOSEPHINE L. GUITTEAU of Toledo, attorney at law, has been one
of the active promoters of educational interests in this city and has also
exerted a widely felt influence over political thought and action. She gives
most earnest consideration and study to any question which engages her
attention and her support of a measure is the expression of her earnest belief
in its worth.

Josephine L. Guitteau is the wife of William B. Guitteau and a daughter
of Arthur J. and Anna B. Leach. Her father was born in Indiana and
her mother was a native of Lafayette in the same state.

After attending the schools of Thorntown, Indiana, Mrs. Guitteau accom-
panied her parents on the removal to Oxford. Ohio, where she attended the

658

WOMEN OF OHIO

public schools and then entered the Miami University. She was graduated
from the Teachers College at Miami and then taught for a year in Urbana,
after which she went south to teach among the cotton mill people of Char-
lotte, North Carolina, where she remained for three years. She next went
to Chicago and while there taught at times in the Francis Parker school as
assistant instructor in geography until in 1915 she received her Doctor of
Philosophy degree at the University of Chicago.

Following her graduation, Mrs. Guitteau was called to Ohio to become a
member of the faculty of the Bowling Green Normal College, even before the
buildings were completed, and in the succeeding year she came to Toledo,
where until 1920 she was assistant superintendent of the city schools in charge
of teacher training. About that time she married William B. Guitteau. There I
are two daughters of this marriage, Joanne Patsy and Mary Jane, the former
now in college at Miami, Ohio, while the younger daughter is a student in
Scott high school.

In 1930 Mrs. Guitteau was appointed by Governor White a member of
the famous Ohio school survey commission and their finds resulted in the
establishment of the school foundation fund of Ohio. Mrs. Guitteau has also
been a potent political force in this state. In 1929 she became president of an
independent Republican organization known as the Woman’s Republican Club
of Toledo and Lucas County, it being founded as an educational club, and in
1930 she was made a life member, being the only person ever so honored. She | I
also served as head of the economics department of the Woman’s Educational
Club of Toledo. In 1934, through mayoralty appointment she became the only
woman member of the board of trustees of the University of Toledo. In the
same year she was admitted to the Ohio bar and began practice. Since that
time her law work and her political activities have largely claimed her atten-
tion. In the campaign of 1936 she was on the speakers bureau of the national
committee, delivered many public addresses through southern Michigan and
was retained as a speaker in Chicago because of her knowledge of city organi-
zation work. In 1938 she was appointed attorney of the state tax commission
in district No. 1 and it was also in that year that she was appointed by the
governor as the first woman member of the board of trustees of Miami, being
the only woman to serve in that capacity since the establishment of the college
one hundred and twenty-five years ago. She has not only kept well informed
on all vital questions and issues of the day but has aided many to a clearer
and more definite understanding of problems which must be settled by public
opinion and upon which public welfare largely rests.

GRACE FERN HECK

GRACE FERN HECK, Urbana, Ohio, attorney, was born at Tremont City,
Ohio, the daughter of Thomas and Mary Heck. She took her A. B. at Ohio

WOMEN OF OHIO

659

State University in 1928 and her degree of J. D. two years later. Miss Heck
has been prosecuting attorney of Champaign County since 1933 and her ability,
both in public and private practice, has won general recognition. Her home
is at 409 Scioto St., Urbana, Ohio.

FLORENCE HORNBACK

FLORENCE HORNBACK, widely known as an educator and writer as
well as an attorney, is at this time working for her doctor’s degree while
teaching at the Catholic University, New Orleans.

She is a Cincinnatian, who took her master’s degree, also a diploma in
adult education at Columbia University and who later practiced with the
Cincinnati firm of Frederick Closs and Regina B. Closs. She has written
extensively on professional and educational topics, has had published several
important books and is regarded as outstanding in the fields of legal and
adult education.

MARY VASHTI JONES

MARY VASHTI JONES, attorney of Zanesville, Ohio, was born near
Duncan Falls, Ohio, the daughter of A. L. and Ada Jones. She took her Ph. B.
at Denison University, and attended Chicago University and Ohio State Uni-
versity Law School. Miss Jones is secretary-treasurer of the Muskingum
County National Farm Loan Association. She was formerly a high school
teacher. Her home is at 1244 Greenwood Ave., Zanesville, Ohio.

CONSTANCE R. KELLER

CONSTANCE R. KELLER of Bucyrus is judge of the probate court, in
which position she is a successor of her father, Judge Keller, who was born
on a farm near Silver Springs, Crawford County, Ohio. He was a son of
Phillip Keller, one of the early settlers of that county, where he followed
the occupation of farming. Judge Keller was reared and educated in his native
county and married Hester Carr, a daughter of James Carr, who served as
justice of the peace and held other local offices in Crawford County.

The farm near Silver Springs which was the birthplace of her father was
also the birthplace of Judge Constance Keller, who was reared on the old
home place and attended the district school, while later she attended town
high school. Attracted to the profession of law, she/ matriculated at the Ohio
State University as a law student and completed her course with the class of
1926. Soon afterward she opened a law office in Bucyrus, where she continued
in general practice until elected judge of the probate court in 1937. She has
since served on the bench to the satisfaction of the general public, so that
the name of Keller again appears on the honor roll of probate judges of
Crawford County.

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WOMEN OF OHIO

Judge Keller was elected on the Democratic ticket and has taken quite au
active interest in local politics, at all times being thoroughly conversant with
the vital questions and issues of the day. This was further heightened by the
fact that for ten years she was city editor of one of the local papers. She
has long manifested a marked public spirit that finds expression in her sup-
port of all measures which are a matter of civic virtue and civic pride, and
which tend to further the upbuilding of community and commonwealth.

At a previous date Judge Keller served as secretary of the Crawford
County Farm Loan Association. She is an honorary member of the Kappa
Sigma Phi, is active in the German Reform Church, is a member of the Garden
Club and devotes a considerable portion of her leisure hours to good books
and other literature, while her recreation is largely obtained in travel. Driv-
ing her own car, she has visited many parts of the county, enjoying the great
out-of-doors.

BLANCHE HARRIS KINGSLAND

BLANCHE HARRIS KINGSLAND, Cleveland, Ohio attorney, was born
at Akron, the daughter of Daniel J. and Nellie Harris. She attended the
Sargeant School at Cambridge, Mass., and received her LL.D. from the Ohio
State University Law School. She first practiced law at Ravenna, Ohio, and
resumed private practice after serving for five years as assistant city solicitor
of Aurora, Ohio. In addition to her professional and civic interests, Mrs.
Kingsland is a writer and composer.

SARAH GROGAN KRUSLING

SARAH GROGAN KRUSLING (Mrs. Leo Ernest Krusling), Cincinnati
attorney, was born in that city, the daughter of Richard Henry and Elizabeth
Foy Grogan. Both her parents, born and reared in Cincinnati, were of Irish
descent.

After attending private school, Sarah Grogan entered the Y. M. C. A.
Law School, received her LL.B. in 1926 and was admitted to the Ohio Bar
the same year. Later she took special courses at the New York School of
Social Work, at the University of Cincinnati and at Xavier University.

Sarah Grogan’s first employment was as librarian of the children’s depart-
ment of the Walnut Hills Branch, Cincinnati Public Library. Later she was
in charge of the children’s room of the main library and then became associate
secretary of the Consumer’s League of Cincinnati. Ability displayed in this
connection became even more marked when she was appointed executive attor-
ney of the Legal Aid Society. This organization gives free legal service to
indigent persons and also operates a legal clinic to give senior law students
practical experience. This department was under Miss Grogan’s direction.

WOMEN OF OHIO

663

She began private practice in 1934, specializing in insurance law. In
1934 Miss Grogan was married to L. E. Krusling, also an attorney. For a
time she was state director for the division of women and professional pro-
jects of the Work’s Progress Administration, with headquarters at Columbus.

Mrs. Krusling is a member of the Roman Catholic Church and is active
in numerous civic and welfare organizations, among them the League of
Women Voters, International Federation of Catholic Alumnae, Catholic
Women’s Association and the Consumers League.

MARGARET LAWRENCE

MARGARET LAWRENCE, assistant prosecuting attorney at Cleveland
for many years, is an active member of Phi Delta Delta.

CORNELIA ANN LEARY

CORNELIA ANN LEARY, Cincinnati attorney of fine attainment, has
been president for the past four years of the Women Lawyers Club of Cin-
cinnati and secretary of the Law Alumni Association of the Cincinnati Uni-
versity. She received her LL.B. from this university in 1929 and has since
been engaged in private practice.

CLARA MAY MILLARD

The women who have chosen to make the practice of law their life work
have added a most interesting chapter to the history of the bench and bar
of Ohio for on the whole they have done much to uphold the standards of
the profession and have proven that the analytical trend of mind and the
habits of logical thought and careful preparation are just as much attributes
of feminine as of masculine mentality, all of which finds expression in the
life record of CLARA MAY MILLARD of Toledo, who is engaged in law
practice with office in the Spitzer Building. She is a daughter of Judge
Irwin I. and Mary Catherine (Keller) Millard, both natives of Ohio, the
former born in Richland County and the latter in Crawford County.

Miss Millard was born in Toledo and was a kindergarten pupil in the
Trinity Episcopal School. She afterward entered the grade schools of Toledo
and advanced to the high school, from which in due time she was graduated.
Attracted by the legal profession she enrolled as a student in St. John’s
University Law School and was graduated therefrom in June, 1911. Hers is
the honor and distinction of being the first woman in Ohio to take that law
degree. She has spent several seasons in study at summer schools and she
was the first woman to be graduated from a Jesuit school.

About two years after she had completed her general education she
entered her father’s office and there remained for exactly forty-two years to
the day and was head deputy of the probate court for the entire period, ft

664

WOMEN OE OHIO

was in June, 1911, that Miss Millard was admitted to the Ohio bar and she j
is a member of the Lucas County Bar Association. She belongs to Trinity
Episcopal Church as did her father and mother and she is a member of the
Toledo Woman’s Club. Her life has been characterized by indefatigable effort
and by laudable ambition, which made her a valuable assistant in probate
matters and as a lawyer she bears a well merited reputation for the ability
she has always displayed in her law work.

MIRIAM E. ROMAINE

Although born in Brooklyn, New York, MIRIAM E. ROMAINE has
always regarded herself as a native Cincinnatian. Her mother’s maternal
grandparents came to the Ohio city from Maryland in 1829, and all of their
children and grandchildren were born there. Her father was a native of -
New York State, his ancestors having come from Holland before the American
Revolution, in which they participated. Miriam has lived in Cincinnati since
the age of two. She attended the public schools, graduated from Woodward
High School and from the University of Cincinnati, with a Bachelor of Arts ;
Degree. Subsequently she attended the Y. M. C .A. Law School and there
received her LL.B. in 1926. Before taking up the study and practice of law
she worked for a time with the United States Employment Service in the 1
Cincinnati and Canton, Ohio offices. For one year she taught French and
mathematics in Milford, Ohio, High School, and then became secretary to
the city auditor, George P. Carrell, who later was elected Mayor of Cincinnati, j
For about four years she was assistant clerk at the Hamilton County Board
of Elections.

Miss Romaine has been engaged in general practice since February,
1928. She is the first woman to hold the position of deed deputy for the I
sheriff of Hamilton County, to which office she was appointed early in January,
1939. Duties of the position consist in scrutinizing the court papers in all
cases culminating in sheriffs’ sales and in drawing the deeds conveying the
properties to the purchasers at such sales.

In the past Miss Romaine has belonged to the Woman’s City Club, to the j
Business Women’s Club and is a member of the League of Women Voters.
She is an active worker in the Republican Women’s Club and the Women
Lawyers’ Club, of both of which organizations she is a charter member,
having served in various important capacities in the Women’s Club and as
president of the Women Lawyers’ Club. She is also a member of the D. A. R.,
of the Cincinnati Bar Association, and is active in the Woman’s Alumnal
Association of the University of Cincinnati, of which she was president and i
for a number of years an executive board member.

WOMEN OF OHIO

665

BESSIE D. MOORE

BESSIE D. MOORE, who became the first woman member of the Dayton
bar, began the practice of her profession in 1917 and has largely specialized
in real estate and probate law. Born in Chillicothe, Ross County, Ohio, May
1, 1879, both her paternal and maternal ancestral lines are traced back to
colonial days. The Moore family is of Scotch-Irish lineage. Her great-
grandfather, Daniel Stull served as a captain in the Revolutionary War and
her great uncle Oscar F. Moore was a member of congress and a colonel of
the Union Army in the Civil War. Hambleton Moore and his wife, Maria
Jones (Clark) Moore, were the parents of James Hambleton Moore, who
was born October 16, 1849 and died December 2, 1916. He married Letitia
McNeill, who was born January 27, 1851, and passed away January 9, 1936.
She was a daughter of John R. and Mary (Davis) McNeill and through this
line Bessie Davis Moore is the great-granddaughter of James Davis, who
fought for American independence in the Revolutionary War.

Although born in Chillicothe, Bessie F. Moore was but nine months old
when her parents James and Letitia Moore, removed to a farm in Pike
County, near Waverly, Ohio, and there she remained until 1891 when she
returned to her native city, where she made her home until January, 1904.
At that date she came to Dayton, where she has since lived. In the meantime
she had graduated from the Chillicothe High School with the class of 1896
and from the Chillicothe Business College in 1897. She acquired her early
legal education in the office of her father and later was a law student under
the preceptorship of Lee Warren James of Dayton. In her father’s office,
which she entered immediately after leaving school, she did the work of
secretary and law clerk and also did part time work for a wholesale hard-
ware concern. On coming to Dayton, in January, 1904, she became secretary
in the law office of Rowe & Shuey and remained with that firm and its
successors for thirty-five years. Her interest in the work led to her continuous
study of legal principles and on the 29th of June, 1917, she was admitted to
practice in the Ohio courts. This was followed by admission to the United
States district court, November 4, 1920, and the United States circuit court of
appeals, March 5, 1935.

Miss Moore was associated with Lee Warren Janies, of the law firm of
James & Coolidge of Dayton for many years, as a member of the firm, but
since May 1, 1938 has practiced independently with offices in the Callahan
Building in Dayton. Probate practice and real estate law claim the major
part of her attention, and she displays particular aptitude in legal work of
this character. She has the respect and confidence of her contemporaries and
colleagues at the bar and is an esteemed member of the Dayton Bar Asso-
ciation, the Ohio State Bar Association, the Dayton Law Library Association,
the American Bar Association and the Dayton Women Lawyers Club, her

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WOMEN OP OHIO

fellow members acknowledging the ability of Dayton’s first woman lawyer.

Miss Moore is also well known in business circles for she has made
various investments in farms, real estate and insurance, is a stockholder in
several banks and building associations and an official in a real estate cor-
poration. Her public activities also cover the years 1935 and 1936 when she
was chairman of the minimum wage board for food establishments and
hotels in Ohio. For many years she served on the Community Chest and was
also active in the Chamber of Commerce. Her political support is given the
Democratic party.

Her membership connections cover a wide scope and indicate much
concerning the nature and breadth of her interests outside of professional
circles. She was a member of the board of trustees of Antioch College, at
Yellow Springs, Ohio, in 1927, and at the present time is serving on its execu-
tive committee. She has belonged to the Dayton Altrusa Club, a classified
club of professional women since 1917, served as national president of Altrusa
in 1919-20, and was president of the local organization in 1935-6. For thirty-
five years she has been a member of the Young Women’s Christian Asso-
ciation, belongs to the Young Women’s League, of which she served as a
board member for twelve years and as vice president, is a charter member of
the Dayton Woman’s Club, has been a Daughter of the American Revolution
since 1897, belongs to the Dayton Art Institute and to the Methodist Church.

SUSAN M. REBHAN

SUSAN M. REBHAN, Cleveland attorney, was graduated from Mac-
Murray College and received her LL.D. from Ohio State University. She
was formerly chairman of the Ohio State Bar Examining Board and served
for a year as member of Cleveland City Council.

Miss Rebhan began her public service as general secretary of the Youngs-
town, 0., Y. W. C. A. and from 1921 to 1923 was national city secretary for
the organization, with offices at New York. She is a director of the Cleveland i
and of the Ohio League of Women Voters, of the Cleveland Women’s Hospital
Association and a former director of the Cleveland Woman’s City Club.

MABEL LAURA RIEBEL

MABEL LAURA RIEBEL (Mrs. John A. Riebel), referee of the Court
of Domestic Relations of Columbus, was born in that city, attended Ohio
State University, took her B.E. at the Capitol College of Oratory and did j
graduate work at Harvard summer school. She was married to Dr. Riebel,
a surgeon, in 1892 and has for years been deeply interested in civic and
welfare work. Mrs. Riebel was formerly president of the City Federation of
Women’s Clubs, chairman of the committee on public health of the Ohio
Federation of Women’s Clubs and a former president of Zonta. Her home 1
is at 158 Buttles Ave., Columbus.

i,

WOMEN OF OHIO

667

ESTELLE THORPE RUSSEL

ESTELLE THORPE RUSSEL, Cleveland attorney, received her LL.B.
at John Marshall School of Law and did graduate work at Cleveland College.
She now heads a law firm of five members, all of them women and previously
filled many important positions.

For a year Mrs. Russel was referee of the Eighth District, Ohio Court
of Appeals. She served as assistant police prosecutor of Cleveland from
1929 to 1930 and the following year as assistant director of law for the
city. She is a former officer of the Cleveland Bar Association, an active member
of the Ohio Bar Association, of the League of Women Voters and numerous
[ other professional and civic organizations.

MARIE S. SCHAFFTER

MARIE S. SCHAFFTER, who is engaged in the general practice of law
in Wooster, where she has spent the greater part of her life, was born near
Woodsfield, Ohio, a daughter of John A. and Mattie (Barber) Suppes, both
j natives of this state. Marie is the elder of two children. When Marie was a
year old the family moved to Oklahoma. When she was four and a half her
| mother died in Oklahoma of typhoid fever, and Marie and her sister came to
| Ohio to live with their maternal grandmother, Mrs. Sarah J. (Twinem) Bar-
ber. She attended the public schools at Wooster, Ohio and completed the high
school course as a member of the class of 1925. She was afterward a student
| in Wooster College for two years and then transferred to Ohio State Univer-
sity, where she pursued her law course and was graduated in 1931 with the
Bachelor of Laws degree. While in high school she had taken active part in
j the debating as she did at Wooster College and, while at Ohio State University
j she was a member of the girls’ varsity debating team and showed marked
j ability as a speaker.

Following her graduation Mrs. Schaffter began the practice of law in
I Wooster and has made steady progress in her profession, her clear reasoning,
j her logical deductions and her gift of oratory all being features in her success.
1 After congress passed the emergency farm legislation, she was appointed in
1933 a member of the legal staff of the Federal Land Bank of Louisville, Ken-
tucky as real estate title examiner. She was next asked to join the staff of
the general counsel for the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation, first at Colum-
| bus, Ohio and later at Cincinnati and had charge of probate litigation in
Ohio until the fall of 1937 when she resigned to accept an invitation to engage
I in general law practice with C. A. Weiser, former probate judge of Wayne
! County. He died in 1938 and Mrs. Schaffter has continued in general law work
j in Wooster where she is accorded a growing clientele.

Mrs. Schaffter is a member of the Wayne County, Ohio State and Federal
! Bar Associations and thus keeps in touch with modern professional thought,

668

WOMEN OF OHIO

methods and purposes. She is a member of the Delta Sigma Rho, honorary
debating fraternity, and Kappa Beta Pi, legal sorority, and is active in the
Business and Professional Women’s Club, having formerly been president of
the Wooster Club, and a member of the state board of directors for several
years, while at present writing she is serving as first vice president of the
state organization. She is an excellent public speaker and is frequently called
upon to address gatherings on some important and interesting public question.

Mrs. Schaffter is married to Earl F. Schaffter.

EVA EPSTEIN SHAW

EVA EPSTEIN SHAW, Toledo, Ohio attorney, was born in New York
City, attended Toledo University and took her LL.B. at St. John’s University
Law School. She is a member of the state board of bar examiners, director
of the Toledo Hebrew School and the author of many magazine and newspaper
articles on the legal status of women.

BEATRICE KELLY SHARPE

BEATRICE KELLY SHARPE (Mrs. George E. Sharpe) is one of the
most prominent women of Steubenville, a fine speaker, active in club work, a
social leader. But Mrs. Sharpe takes due pride in what represents greater
personal effort and therefore a more worth while achievement. She was the
first woman attorney in Jefferson County.

FLORENCE HARTMANN WELLS

FLORENCE HARTMANN WELLS, educator and attorney at law, more-
over has the distinction of being the first woman in Ohio to be elected to both
branches of the state legislature. She has filled various other offices, both
within and outside of the legal profession and her record is one of continuous
progress and of constantly growing usefulness. Today she is engaged in law
practice and at the same time is a teacher in the Davis Business College.

Mrs. Wells was born in Archibald, Ohio, where her grandfather, Fred-
erick Stotzer, was the first business man of the town and in fact he was one
of the founders of Archibald in association with Henry Hurst and Solomon
Levy. He also served as the first mayor there and he opened a harness shop
which was the first commercial enterprise of the new municipality. Today
his grandson, Harold Stotzer, occupies the same building, in which he too
is conducting a harness shop in connection with a hardware store. The parents
of Mrs. Wells were Dr. George W. and Emma Elizabeth (Stotzer) Hartmann,
the former being a country physician at a time when all calls were made with
horse and buggy and often over poorly improved roads. The Doctor died in
1925, while his wife passed away in 1924. They were parents of six children:
Dr. C. F. Hartmann, now living at the old homestead at Wauseon, Ohio, and
successfully practicing medicine; Mrs. Wells; Donald, who died in infancy;

WOMEN OF OHIO

669

Ruth, who died in early childhood ; Helen E., who is music supervisor in the
grade schools of Mansfield, Ohio ; and Clarence, who died in infancy.

Mrs. Wells attended the public schools of Wauseon until graduated from
high school there and soon after she was married to Roy Wells. Of their
two children, one died in infancy and the other, Audrey Wells, was graduated
from the same school at Wauseon, which her mother had attended. She after-
ward became a student in the University of Michigan, where she met Dr.
Frank I. Terrill and they were married. Her husband is an able physician
who is now superintendent of the Montana Tuberculosis Sanitarium at Deer
Lodge, Montana.

Mrs. Wells’ first business experience came to her when she accepted a
position as telephone operator, serving for six weeks. She also devoted ten
years to music at home. In 1907 she became a student in the Davis Business
College where she is now teaching although some years passed before she
became one of the instructors there. After completing her business course,
she became associated with the Aetna Life Insurance Company with which she
remained for five years, and later she was with the firm of Wright, Russell and
Fay of Toledo and afterward with Geer and Lane, Toledo attorneys, for whom
she did bookkeeping and briefing. In order to acquire the legal vocabulary
she attended the University of Toledo and later entered night school for the
study of law, being graduated in 1923 with the Bachelor of Law degree. She
then passed the required state examination and was admitted to practice in
the Ohio courts. When women were granted the right of franchise she
was taken into the municipal court of Toledo, being the first woman to
occupy the position of deputy clerk, and it was while she was filling that office
that she pursued her law studies and was admitted to the bar. She then took
up the work of the profession in association with the firm of Kirkbride,
McCabe and Boessel and while thus practicing she was made a delegate to a
Republican pre-primary convention at Columbus. In the fall of 1924 she was
; prevailed upon by a group of club women to become the Republican candidate
for the legislature and won in the election, being the second woman elected
j to the Ohio general assembly but the first one to become active. She led the
I ticket when making the contest and served for one session in the house.

In 1927 Mrs. Wells was nominated for the senate and was again the
] victorious candidate. She served that year as secretary of the finance com-
) mittee and was a member of the committee on committees. While serving in
the senate, she learned that there was an opening in the prosecutor’s office in
Toledo and in July she resigned her legislative position and became assistant
| prosecutor of Lucas County. While serving in the position she was the only
woman elected to the charter commission and she was the first woman in Ohio
to be elected to the house of representatives and to the senate. She also
j served as state central committeeman for two terms.

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WOMEN OF OHIO

On leaving the prosecutor’s office Mrs. Wells became a partner in the law 1
firm of Hunt, Stickney and Wells and after a few months she wasj offered the
position of assistant trust officer in the Ohio Savings Bank and Trust Com- ji
pany, where she spent one year. During all of this time Mrs. Wells was keeping
up her studies by attendance at night schools. She became a candidate for
clerk of the courts of Lucas County and in the primary she won by the largest
majority ever known in Lucas County. She also became interested in welfare i
work, with which she was actively connected for a year when the Democrats
took it over. For about two months thereafter she engaged in lecturing and
then took a position in the county auditor’s office. While thus employed she
again ran for clerk of the courts in 1936 and again won in the primaries, but n
again went down in the Democratic landslide of that year.

Mrs. Wells has had a wide and varied business experience and in addition
to her other work has done some court reporting. Going to Bowling Green
(Ohio) College, she got her credits to teach and in 1935 she came to the Davis
Business College as an instructor. In 1938 she was granted her Bachelor’s ;
degree in business administration, with all of the teacher’s degrees included,

At the primary of 1938 she headed the woman’s organization in favor of
Robert Taft. While she is now teaching she also practices law and she is a
member of the Lucas County and Toledo Bar Associations. She has member-
ship in the Eastern Star, of which she is a past worthy matron and a past
deputy grand matron. She was the first mother’s advisor for the Rainbow
Club for Girls in Ohio and is a past president of the Zonta Club and of the j
Business and Professional Women’s Clubs, of which she is now (1939) state I
finance chairman. She is also a past president of the P. E. 0. and she belongs
to the Collingwood avenue Presbyterian church. All activities for the promo-
tion of civic, political, educational or moral progress receive her endorsement
and her own record is one of steady advancement since she started out in the
business world. She is constantly raising her standards as her experience and
knowledge of affairs broaden and she never stops short of the attainment of
her goal.

LILLIAN M. WESTROPP

LILLIAN M. WESTROPP, judge of the municipal court of Cleveland,
was born in the city which is still her home and is a daughter of Thomas t
and Clara S. Westropp. After completing her preliminary education, she j i
entered Baldwin-Wallace College, where she received her LL. D. degree. For i
a year she filled the position of assistant prosecutor of Cuyahoga County.
Her advancement in her chosen profession has been continuous and her ability
brought to her judicial honors in her selection for the position of judge of
the municipal court. The fairness and impartiality of her decisions make hers
an enviable record in this position.

Judge Westropp was the first woman elected to the executive committee
of the Cleveland Bar Association and has had definite part in the growth and

WOMEN OF OHIO

671

progress of the organization. She has taken an active interest in political
questions and was the organizer and formerly secretary of the Democratic
Women's Association of the State of Ohio and is a leading member of the
League of Women Voters. She is also president of the Cleveland Women's
Federal Savings and Loan Company and she cooperates in many movements
for the benefit of women particularly as well' as in those projects which have
to do with the general welfare.

ELSIE H. WHITTINGHAM

ELSIE H. WHITTINGHAM has served since 1934 as city solicitor and
legal representative of the city of Alliance, Ohio. She was previously com-
missioner of the Sinking Fund and also city auditor.

For this civic service Miss Whittingham was prepared by her education
at Mt. Union College, by constructive participation in civic and political affairs
and by devotion to public interests in general.

She is a former president of the Alliance Quota Club and of the Demo-
cratic Women's Club and since 1929 has been secretary of the Alliance Anti
Tuberculosis League.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Women in Business, Industry

and

Library Service

MARIE REMINGTON WING

Attorney for Region Five, Social Security Board,
Cleveland

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY

By MARIE R. WING, Cleveland
Attorney for Region Five , Social Security Board

Half a million women in Ohio are engaged in gainful occupations
according to the U. S. Census of 1930. Of these, 294,000 are in business
and industry. Ohio has a large variety of industries, larger, perhaps,
than any other state. This has given Ohio women a wider range of
opportunity in business and in industry than is afforded women of
most of the other states.

Ohio women are also fortunate in living in a state where the legal
status of women compares favorably with that in other parts of the
country. Ohio statutes have not only removed most of the inequalities
of women under the common law — in regard to control of earnings,
property, marriage, divorce, etc. — but within recent years the Minimum
Wage Law and Women’s Hours of Work Law have been passed to
! prevent unfair exploitation of women in industry.

The fact that women’s organizations in Ohio are strong and active
has also been of advantage to business women and to some extent to
! women in industry. Such organizations as the Business and Profes-
sional Women’s Club, the Consumers League and the Young Women’s
Christian Association have for many years worked for increased op-
| portunties and for better working conditions, especially where women
are concerned.

Trade unions in which women have member ship are not yet as
numerous as they should be. However those that do exist are a great
I strength to women in the industries represented.

The fact that certain Ohio women have attained outstanding suc-
j cess in business and industry is due in large part to the progress made
by a great number of women of the rank and file who have in good times
and had, in season and out, demonstrated their industry, skill and
intelligence in all kinds of occupations.

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WOMEN OF OHIO

There is no longer any question but that business and industry
need the services women have to offer as much as the women them-
selves need the opportunity to earn a livlihood. Perhaps more.

Outstanding leaders in turn furnish inspiration to the younger
women as they enter these fields. May their interests deepen and
widen as their abilities increase.

LOUISE H. ADAMS

LOUISE H. ADAMS, of Columbus, business and advertising manager of
the Fur, Fish and Game Magazine, was born at Gallipolis, the daughter of
Arthur R. and Murilla Harding. She received her B. A. and B. S. at Ohio
State University, married Ivan R. Adams in 1929 and has two children. Mrs.
Adams is a former president of the Columbus Women’s City Panhellenic Club.
Her home is at 556 Piedmont Road.

IMOGENE BAKER

Among the efficient and enterprising business women of Toledo is num-
bered IMOGENE BAKER, who established and has since conducted the Imo-
gene Baker Studio, in which connection she has gained a liberal and well
deserved patronage because of the fine quality of the photographic work which
she does. Miss Baker was born in Perry County, Pennsylvania, a daughter
of Rev. Mark and Melissa (Elder) Baker, also natives of the Keystone state,
although they came to Ohio thirty-five years ago. Mrs. Baker is now living in
Toledo with her daughter. Mr. Baker, who is a minister of the Methodist
church, is now again in Pennsylvania. In the family were three children, \
as follows : Asa M., who married Lela Munson of Ovid, Michigan, and has j
three children, Bion, Eileen and Gale ; Faye, who is the wife of Clifford E.
Verrol, who is engaged in the investment business in Detroit, but they make
their home in Toledo and have one child, Faye J oanne ; and Imogene, who
completes the family.

Miss Baker attended both the grade and high schools of Altoona, Penn- i
sylvania and was graduated from a preparatory school in that city. She
pursued her art studies in photography in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, and i
also received business training in the Davis School of Toledo. She had con-
siderable business training and experience before establishing her studio, being
for some time with the Whitt-Gregg studio in the Spitzer building, after which
she decided to engage in business for herself and opened her place in the same I
building. The Imogene Baker Studio has been well patronizd from the begin- !
ning. The public was more or less familiar with her work and she soon
demonstrated that she was thoroughly familiar with the latest and most
improved photographic processes. She is very efficient in getting a good like- ’

WOMEN OF OHIO

677

ness and in bringing out characteristics without which photography means
little. She understands light and shadow as well as color and tone and pose
and her work has proven highly satisfactory. Moreover Miss Baker is well
known socially in Toledo, where she has a circle of friends almost coextensive
with the circle of her acquaintance.

MARY H. BATEMAN

MARY H. BATEMAN, one of the outstanding business women and philan-
thropic workers of Zanesville, finding keen pleasure in helping a fellow
traveler on life’s journey, was born on a farm near this city and is a daughter
of Francis A. and Sarah Heenan. Her father, a native of England, came
to Ohio with his parents in his boyhood days, the family settling in Mus-
kingum County, where the grandfather of Mrs. Bateman purchased land
and established one of the early nurseries of this section. On that place
Francis A. Heenan was reared and after reaching man’s estate he married
Sarah Hague, who was one of the early school teachers of Muskingum County.

Mrs. Bateman was born and reared on a part of the farm on which her
grandfather first settled on coming from England. She attended first the
district schools and afterward the grade and high schools of Zanesville and
I she was instructed by her mother in cooking, sewing and other household
duties that would make her a good wife and mother. On the 22nd of Febru-
ary, 1903 she was married to William M. Bateman, who was reared in the
i same neighborhood as his wife. Coming to Zanesville he engaged in the under-
taking business, which he carried on until his death and which is still con-
| tinued under the name of the Bateman Memorial Home by Mrs. Bateman
| and her son William. Mr. Bateman was one of the very capable, reliable and
successful business men of Zanesville for in addition to the undertaking busi-
ness he became well known in financial circles as the president of the First
j National Bank, also of the First Trust and Savings Bank and as founder and
president of the Mosaic Tile Company. Whatever he undertook he accomplished
and obstacles and difficulties, such as beset any business enterprise, seemed
I but to serve as an impetus for renewed energy and progressiveness on his part.

! Moreover he was a man of very charitable disposition, who was constantly
helping others and who gave generously to churches, to the Young Men’s
j Christian Association, to hospitals and to other projects for the benefit of
| mankind. He was also prominent in Masonry and loyally followed the teach-
• ( ings and high purposes of the craft. He was also serving as a trustee of
Denison College at the time of his demise, which occurred in 1926.

Mr. and Mrs. Bateman were the parents of five children : Mary Eliza-
beth, now the wife of Clarence J. Crossland, an attorney; William M., Jr.,
who since completing his college course at Harvard has succeeded his father
in the management of the undertaking business; James H. ; Edmund, who is

678

WOMEN OF OHIO

a graduate aviator; and Helen Jean, at home. All have been given college
educations, thus qualifying for life’s practical responsibilities.

Following the death of her husband Mrs. Bateman served on the boards
of directors of the First Trust and Savings Bank with which he had been
connected, continuing to act in that position for a period of five years until
her son William had finished his studies at Harvard and was able to relieve
her. Mrs. Bateman also continued with his other business affairs and still
retains her interest in the Memorial Home, having become a licensed em-
balmer before her husband passed away. She is a woman of sound judgment
and keen business enterprise and has made notable progress in the manage-
ment of her business affairs. She belongs to the Eastern Star, but her interest
centers chiefly in her church — the Baptist — and in the benevolences and good
deeds prompted by the teachings of the church. She believes in helping all
worthy causes, but does so quietly and unostentatiously.

MARY BATES

MARY BATES, of the Union Central Life Insurance Company, was born
at Camp Washington, Cincinnati, in the old Bates homestead, built in 1807.
She is the daughter of Isaac and Mary Bates. Her father was a direct de-
scendant of the Isaac Bates who had been a colonel in the Revolutionary War
and who came from Menden, Mass., to Cincinnati and settled there in 1788.
Her mother was of French and English descent, the daughter of J. See Augur,
prominent Cincinnati business man in the early days of the city.

Miss Bates attended Miss Sattler’s School, then the College Preparatory
School. She was graduated from Wellesley College with a B. A. degree in 1910.

From 1918 to 1926 Miss Bates was secretary to John L. Shuff, nationally
known insurance man, and since then has been a valued member of the sales
staff of the Union Central company. She belongs to the College Club, to the
Wellesley Club, to the Life Underwriters Association and to a number of
college sororities.

LOUISE ANN BIRKENKAMP

The name Birkenkamp is familiar to all who know aught of the history
of Toledo for the father of LOUISE ANN BIRKENKAMP was one of the first
settlers in the southern part of the city where the family home has since
been maintained and where for many years the family have conducted an
undertaking business. Theirs is today one of the finest and largest funeral
establishments in the state and the business has been built up through enter-
prise and earnest effort, built upon a desire to please and help their patrons.

The parents of Louise A. Birkenkamp were Herman H. and Elizabeth
(Ehlert) Birkenkamp, both natives of Germany and both came to the United
States in 1856. The father, who was born in Hanover, had been orphaned
before he crossed the Atlantic. Arriving in this country he made his way to

WOMEN OF OHIO

679

Toledo, took up his abode in the south part of the city, when there were but
three or four settlers there, and from that time forward continued to reside
at his first location until his death, developing his business interests with the
growth and upbuilding of the city. He was first employed as a night watch-
man by a lumber company and later, buying a horse and wagon, he engaged
in the drayage business. In 1867 he purchased his first carriage and established
a livery business, in which he continued until 1907, keeping on until he had
thirty head of horses. In 1907 he began in the undertaking business and this
he enlarged and developed, adding to his property, until today the Birken-
kamp Funeral Home is one of the finest and largest in the state.

Mr. and Mrs. Birkenkamp became the parents of four sons and six
daughters, of whom John C. and Mary Eleanor are both deceased, and the
other sons of the family have also passed away. Elise is now the widow of
Fred E. Hoke. Julia A. became the wife of George Rodehauser, a jeweler of
Toledo and their only son, George, is now deceased. Louise A. is the next
of the family. Lina is the widow of Otto Peth and they had three children —
Helen, deceased ; Eunice, the wife of Elmer Rieser, who is with the Toledo
Scale Company ; and Elizabeth. Emma Birkenkamp is the wife of Albert Ber-
• stecher, a plumber, and they have had three children, Herman, Albert and
I Eloise Mueller, the last named now deceased. Herman, the next son of the
j family, married Mary Ruswinchel and they had one son, Herman. Henry J.

| married Constance Barthemus and they had three sons : Roland R., who
I married Grace Huetter and has a daughter; Hubert H., who married Rose
! Fowler and has four children : June Rose, Hubert H., Donald D. and Barton
j Bruce. Vincent Lee Birkenkamp married Alice Schleiman and they have two
children, Arlene and Gordon. William H. Birkenkamp married Minnie Clark.

The father of this family died in 1914, at the age of seventy-nine years
1 and the mother’s death occurred December 27, 1928, when she had passed the
| ninetieth milestone on life’s journey. They were most earnest Christian people
| and reared their family in the faith. They attended St. John’s Lutheran
church, which is about to celebrate the seventy-fifth anniversary of its found-
! ing. Mr. Birkenkamp having been active in its organization, on the occasion
of the anniversary celebration Miss Birkenkamp is presenting the church
[ with a set of chimes. Mr. Birkenkamp also gave generously to other religious
j denominations and he was a member of the Knights of the Golden Rule and
I the Ancient Order of United Workmen.

All of the children of the family were born on the corner where the
I home and the business buildings are still located. Miss Birkenkamp attended
schools of Toledo and from the time that she was twelve years of age she
| worked right along with her father in the business, trimming caskets, doing
j the bookkeeping and other such tasks and since the death of her father and
brothers she has been conducting the business in a most capable manner. She
| now employs eighteen men beside the three grandsons who are connected with

680

WOMEN OF OHIO

the business. They have two chapels and five receiving rooms, also a morgue
and they have all of their own equipment. There are four hearses, two
invalid cars, two first call cars and two flower cars. They have the entire
equipment for the simplest or the most elaborate funerals and do not have
to go outside for anything.

The youngest son of the family was a gifted artist, of marked natural
talent and in the home are numerous oil paintings, the work of his brush.

MARION B. BROGAN

MARION B. BROGAN, of Cincinnati, department manager of Thomas
Emery’s Sons, Inc. and for two terms president of the Ohio Federation of
Business and Professional Women’s Clubs, was born in Covington, Ky., the
daughter of John and Ella Morris Brogan.

She was graduated from Covington High School, then entered the Little-
ford Business School of Cincinnati, later taking courses at the University
of Cincinnati which further developed and trained the exceptional business j
aptitude with which Miss Brogan is endowed.

Her first position was in the treasurer’s department of the Street Rail-
way Company and her second with her present firm. She began as stenogra- ;
pher and clerical worker.

Quickness of understanding, skilled clerical technique, excellent judgment
and enthusiasm for good work won ready recognition and high appreciation. *

Marion was advanced to positions of increased responsibility culminating |
in her present managership of a department dealing with great quantities of
widely varied real estate.

Her general interest in business and business women has kept pace with
her personal achievements.

Miss Brogan was a charter member of the Cincinnati Business and Pro- j
fessional Women’s Club and was twice elected president of this organization

To her effort is largely due the organization in 1930 of the Junior Busi-
ness and Professional Women’s Club, of which she is now Counselor.

Miss Brogan was an energetic and resourceful promoter of the movement !
which resulted in an organization even more important, the Ohio Federation |
of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs.

Much of the fine work done by this widely recognized federation of
women in business and professional life, is attributed to the broad vision,
keen observation and fine judgment of this leader, who served the state as
president for two terms, from 1922 to 1924.

Her interest in the civic, social and educational life of Cincinnati is
reflected by Marion Brogan’s membership in important groups organized for
this purpose and her political interest by her work with the Hamilton County
Women’s Democratic Club of which she was a director for several years.

WOMEN OF OHIO

681

Miss Brogan is chairman of the business women’s group of the Presby-
terian Women’s Club of the First Presbyterian Church of Walnut Hills.

Few if any business women of Ohio have done more than Marion Brogan
to advance the interests and opportunities of other business women.

This seems to be a virtually unanimous opinion. One business woman
would, however, dissent violently. This would be Marion Brogan.

CHRISTINE WILSON CARES

CHRISTINE WILSON CARES (Mrs. Charles W. Cares) is a Cleveland
business woman who has applied unusual ability to the field of flower mer-
chandising. As president and secretary of Christine Florist, Inc., she has
developed many interesting and attractive features of the floral business and
is among the active members of Society of American Florists and the
National Rose Growers Association. Her husband is a civil engineer and
| her home is at Cleveland Heights.

MINNA D. CARSTENS

MINNA D. CARSTENS is numbered among the women who did pioneer-
ing in the insurance field and her continuous progress along this line has
I placed her in a prominent position among the representatives of life insurance
in Cincinnati. Her name is also well known in club and civic circles for she
has been an efficient helper in both. She has always been a resident of Ohio,
| her birth having occurred in Glendale, whence her parents, Hugo and Margetta
' Carstens, came with their family to Cincinnati, during the infancy of their
| daughter Minna.

At the usual age she entered the public schools and passed through con-
j secutive grades to the high school. After putting aside her text books, she
I started out in the business world in connection with life insurance work, as
j a representative of the Berkshire Life Insurance Company. Soon afterward
j she changed to the Mutual Life Insurance Company and has since been
I associated with that corporation. She is thoroughly familiar with every
! phase of the life insurance business, has systematically developed her business
j and now has a large clientele.

Miss Carstens is also widely known through her connection with club
I activities. She was one of the organizers of the Cincinnati Women’s Rotary
! Club and is in full sympathy with its high purposes. She is likewise a charter
! member of the Cincinnati Women’s Club and is generous and practical in
her support of all civic projects of a progressive nature, being much interested
in the development of advanced ideals in municipal life. She is of the Presby-
terian faith and she finds her greatest pleasure and recreation in music,
both vocal and instrumental. Her business and social contacts have brought
her many friends and the high regard of all who know her.

682

WOMEN OF OHIO

HARRIET ESTHER COLLINS

HARRIET ESTHER COLLINS (Mrs. Robert W. Collins), assistant editor
of the Ohio State Monthly and assistant secretary of the Ohio State Uni-
versity Association, received her A.B. at Ohio State University, where she is
identified with many important activities. Mrs. Collins was formerly editor
of the Ohio Public Health Journal and a member of the board of control of
the Ohio State University faculty. Her home is at 2320 Tremont Rd., Columbus.

MARGARET H. CROCKER

MARGARET H. CROCKER (Mrs. Marcus W. Crocker), of Columbus, is
a business executive of the Jugtown Pottery Co., of Columbus, and a lecturer
on pottery and related arts. She was educated at St. Mary’s School, Raleigh,
N. C., married Mr. Crocker, Columbus business man, and has two children.

Mrs. Crocker is among leaders of the Big Sister Association and an ex-
officer of the Ohio division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. She
lives at 1047 Bryden Rd.

ANNETTE LUCILLE CULL

ANNETTE LUCILLE CULL has led a very busy life and one that must
have held many interesting and entertaining experiences for she devoted
her early womanhood to nursing, giving her an excellent opportunity to study
human nature as well as helping those needing attention of that character,
while now she has a dual interest in that she heads personally conducted tours
of Europe each year and when at home manages a gift house, which she owns
and maintains in her residence at 327 W. Woodruff Avenue in Toledo. These
two enterprises dovetail perfectly in each other, for when on her foreign
travels, she purchases the most attractive things for her shop and moreover
seems to know just where to find the unusual and the beautiful things that
will appeal to a discriminating purchasing public.

Her life story had its beginning in Canada, for she was born in Toronto,
a daughter of John G. and Mary A. Cull, both of whom were born in Ireland.
They were married in Dungannon and soon afterward came to the United
States, the father’s people then living in Cleveland so that they made their
way to that city. Miss Cull began her education in the schools of Cleveland
and afterward attended the grades and high school at Norwalk, Ohio, to
which place her parents had removed. After leaving high school she entered
the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Attracted to the nursing profession,
she took her training at the School of Nursing in Ann Arbor, but in the
meantime her people had removed to Toledo and she completed her studies
in the Toledo Nurses Training School, of which she is a graduate. She de-
voted about ten years to nursing in this city and became well known pro-
fessionally. About that time she and her mother went to Europe, spending

WOMEN OF OHIO

683

about three months in travel in 1900 and upon her return she gave up nursing
and undertook the business of conducting tours to Europe until she has now
taken twenty-seven tours. The first tour which she managed had only nine
people in the party, but the number steadily grew as the years passed. She
had to discontinue one tour in Switzerland and return home on account of the
outbreak of the World War in 1914. In 1918 Miss Cull went to France. She
was fourteen days in making the trip over and during that time she conducted
a study class aboard ship for those going to France, teaching them something
of the language and also French money values. She was connected with the
Young Men’s Christian Association work. Her tours have been very popular
and American appreciation of European merchandise brought to her the
idea of opening a gift shop.

Miss Cull therefore stocked her spacious home in Toledo with much
attractive merchandise, little of which can be duplicated in the stores of
this country, and this she has most enticingly displayed. A Toledo reporter
describing her shop, wrote as follows: “An ale mug from Ye Old Cheshire
Cheese in London, wool shawls from the country of the Dolomites, laces from
the Italian riviera, antique bell pulls from France, costumed dolls from
Ireland, linens from Esthonia, Capodimonti china, old German flint glass,
carved black walnut fruit bowls that play melodious little tunes when you
lift them, brass from Cairo, Amsterdam and Venice, children’s chairs from
i Spain and from Scotland gay and homey little tea sets are some of the
things that make up her stock in trade.” Here one may find attractive gifts
! for any season or for any purpose and from almost every corner of the
globe and Miss Cull’s long experience in buying on her extensive travels
| aids her to assist purchasers in acquiring just what they want. She is building
j up a business of gratifying proportions and moreover a shop that is a real
| addition to the art exhibits of the city.

LUCILE ATCHERSON CURTIS

LUCILE ATCHERSON CURTIS (Mrs. George M. Curtis), owner and
| manager of the Normandie Hotel, Columbus, is among the comparatively few
I women who have successfully established themselves in this highly administra-
I tive type of business. But she has had and is on record as having won much
I greater personal distinction.

After the World War, Lucile Atcherson was decorated by the French
| Government with the Medaille de la Reconnaissance Francaise and the
Medaille d’Aisne in recognition of four years service, part during the war
and part afterward, when she was executive secretary of the American Com-
mittee for Devastated France. Miss Atcherson received her B.A. at Smith
College in 1913 and was one of the famous woman’s unit of this college to go
overseas for war service.

684

WOMEN OF OHIO

1

After her work for Devastated France and the Fund for French Wounded
was completed, Miss Atcherson was given an appointment in the Division
of Latin American Affairs and later to the American Legation at Berne,
Switzerland, then to the American Legation at Panama City. In 1928 she
married George M. Curtis, a professor of surgery. They have two children.
The Curtis home is at 4690 Sunbury Ed., Columbus.

LENA DALTON

LENA DALTON is manager and executive head of the Hamilton Busi-
ness College, which was established in 1865 by H. H. Beck and has maintained
a continuous existence since, being always regarded as an educational asset
of Hamilton. The school was purchased by Miss Dalton and Miss Mildred
Shaffer, as co-owners, in 1934 and under their guidance has steadily grown
and developed.

Miss Dalton is a native of Union City, Tennessee, whence her parents
removed with their family to Virginia and later to Maryland. She attended
high school in Front Royal, Virginia, and the Eastern College of Front Royal
and then entered the teachers college of Johns Hopkins University, while
later she took special training at Columbia University. She began teaching
in the Bryant & Stratton Business College in Baltimore, Maryland, and sub-
sequently spent a year as an instructor in the Gregg College of Chicago. She
went abroad in 1927, devoting a year to European travel and thus greatly
broadening her knowledge. Her entire life, since finishing her own education,
has been devoted to teaching and at all times she keeps in touch with modern
methods and the latest results of scientific investigation in her particular
field.

Miss Dalton was the prime mover in the organization of the Business
and Professional Woman’s Club of Hamilton and served as its first president.
She is also a member of the Woman’s City Club and is interested in all pro-
gressive measures looking to civic welfare and betterment. Her religious
faith is indicated in her connection with the Baptist Church.

f

ii

ALIN TRIPP ELLIOTT DETRICK
ALIN TRIPP ELLIOTT DETRICK is the secretary of the United States J]
Trotting Association and is well known not only in Bellefontaine, her home ! i
city, but throughout the country wherever interest is felt in harness trotting
horses. A native of West Mansfield, Logan County, Ohio, she is a daughter ’
of Nicholas Vinton and Florabelle (McAtee) Elliott, also natives of this j
state. The father, who was born on a farm in Logan County, engaged in the
lumber business and also was a sheep buyer. After reaching the age of
twenty-nine years he attended a business school in order to better qualify
for his activities. It was subsequent to that time that he became interested
in steel and took up bridge building in connection with the Bellefontaine

WOMEN OF OHIO

685

Bridge, Iron & Steel Company. Later he was manager of the Marysville
Cabinet Company for several years and he retired from active business life
about 1928. He was active in politics, was a member of the city council and
was appointed civil service director. He died February 13, 1938 at the age
of eighty-two years. In the family were two daughters, Mrs. Detrick and
Almyra Marie, who became the wife of Fred B. Hamilton of the firm of Hill
& Hamilton, who have an insurance agency in Bellefontaine. Mr. and Mrs.
Hamilton have one child Jeanne.

Mrs. Detrick first attended the grade schools of Bellefontaine and was
graduated from high school with the class of 1906, after which she concen-
trated her attention upon music. She had begun studying that art when
but nine years of age and when fourteen began the study of voice, at the
same time keeping up her instrumental music. She is still enthusiastic con-
cerning music and plays whenever she has opportunity to do so.

It was in 1907 that Alin T. Elliott was married to Don A. Detrick, who
was born in Logan County and educated here. After his graduation from
the Bellefontaine High School, he secured a position in the People’s Com-
mercial Bank, where he remained for about two years and was then con-
nected with the Lake Shore Bank at Cleveland for a year and a half. He
later returned to Bellefontaine, where he became deputy probate judge. He
I also engaged in the real estate business and for twenty years he was sec-
retary of the local County Fair board, in which work he was assisted by
his wife. Actively interested in sports, he was a member of the Bellefontaine
Country Club and was the club champion for five years. In 1929 he was
I secretary of the Grand Circuit of Trotting Horses of America, and during
the year of his absence Mrs. Detrick had charge of his real estate business
I as well as of the Fair and the horses. At his death she became secretary of
| the Ohio County Fair Association and was also made secretary-treasurer of
| the United Trotting Association. She also took over the Huff National Fair
! Directory as editor and publisher.

On the 2nd of January, 1936, Mrs. Detrick met in New York with rep-
I resentatives of these different organizations and was instrumental in getting
| a uniform classification to raise harness horses and to establish uniform rules.
In 1938 she was instrumental in bringing to Columbus the meeting of the five
associations, including the Trotting Horse Club of America, the American
Trotting Register Association, located in Goshen, New York, the National
Trotting Association, which has its headquarters in Hartford, Connecticut,
the American Trotting Association of Chicago and the United Trotting Asso-
ciation of Ohio.

On Armistice Day of 1938 a group of horsemen met at Indianapolis,
Indiana, and formed a new organization, called the United States Trotting
Association and at the Columbus meeting Mrs. Detrick was chosen its execu-

686

WOMEN OF OHIO

tive secretary, and is in charge of its interests from Ohio westward. There
is not another woman in the country that has had the honors accorded Mrs.
Detrick in connection with the raising of harness horses. Her name is known
wherever fine harness horses are found and she speaks with authority on all in
phases of the business.

Mr. and Mrs. Detrick had a family of seven children. Of these Vinton J*

married Helen Henning of Bellefontaine and they have a daughter six years
old and lost a son at the age of four years. Betty is the wife of J. Phillip
Gordon of Huntsville, Ohio, and they have a son, Johnnie, three years of
age. Joan is the wife of Lewis Smith of Huntsville, Ohio.

Mrs. Detrick is a stockholder in the Bellefontaine Country Club, but !■
since her husband passed away has not been active in the organization. She
belongs to the Methodist Church and is a member of the Bellefontaine Circle
of the King’s Daughters.

CORA M. DOW

CORA M. DOW, first graduate woman pharmacist of the United States, ;M
who, from earnings begun before she was out of childhood left, on her death
in 1915, hundreds of thousands of dollars as endowment to the Cincinnati
Symphony Orchestra, has a separate niche in the hall of fame. She was Ohio’s jP
ablest business woman.

She was born in New Jersey in 1868, the daughter of Edward Burleigh q

Dow, a druggist who moved with his wife and child to Cincinnati in the late
seventies.

Edward Dow was an excellent druggist but he was also an idealist, a i
dreamer. His little daughter was on the contrary a realist and a doer.

So a little girl still in short dresses spent her days and evenings assisting
her father in a little drug store located in a poor district of West Fifth
Street, Cincinnati. When not busy with the duties of clerking, bookkeeping j
and bottle washing, the little girl divided her time between the study of
music, for which she had extraordinary talent, and the study of her father’s j
medicines, from which she acquired the basis of her pharmaceutical education, j

Cora’s father died when she was still in her teens. The cares and manage-
ment of the drug store fell entirely upon her shoulders. She saw it was a task
that would require all the efforts of a trained mind to manage, and so set
about obtaining an education that she might carry on. She entered the Cin-
cinnati College of Pharmacy, completed her course with honors. At that time
she was the first woman pharmacist in the United States. Magazines and news-
papers commented widely on her achievement.

The drug store was remodeled. Cora presently got a larger store started
on Race Street near Seventh. It was in this location she really began her
remarkable career. Old show cases were remodeled, old shelves were replaced
with others — the best that money could buy.

WOMEN OF OHIO

687

It was one of the first, if not the first drug store in the United States,
to embody the modern conceptions of service and store management. The
fame of this store, lavishly decorated with marble and stained glass and bright-
ened with fresh merchandise, spread all over the country. Its success encour-
aged Miss Dow to install her own plant for the manufacture of ice cream,
and gradually to enlarge the sphere of her activities until eleven Dow drug
stores and a great wholesale plant at 9th and Broadway exercised a dominating
influence in the drug business throughout the country.

One of the secrets of Miss Dow’s success was her almost uncanny capacity
for insight into personal character. Guided by this faculty she surrounded
herself with more than 200 employees, everyone of whom was loyal to the
employer and her ideals, and everyone of whom she respects as a personal
friend. It was one of the stipulations under which Miss Dow finally sold
her business just before her death that the welfare of those whose loj^al
cooperation made her success possible should be safe-guarded by the new
management. So practically the entire personnel of the Dow organization
was continued in the employment of the re-organized company.

In spite of the tremendous responsibility of her business and the limita-
tions of a naturally frail body, Miss Dow always found time and energy for
philanthropic and altruistic work. She was a friend and patron to aspiring
young men and women whose education she made possible by generous finan-
cial aid and to the upbuilding of whose moral character she gave unsparingly
of her own encouragement and influence.

Her work on behalf of humane legislation for the protection of horses
and dogs was eloquent testimony to the gentleness and sympathy of her own
| heart.

It has been estimated that Cora Dow amassed $1,000,000 through her own
endeavors.

She was also a woman of fine musical ability. This talent she cultivated
| even while working to become a druggist. Almost to the end, even while
I suffering great pain, her interest in musical matters did not slacken, and by
her will left the bulk of her estate to the orchestra she loved. But she also
j left bequests to virtually all of her employees.

When Cora Dow realized that death was a matter of days with her, she
issued a farewell note to her employees. She wished them to stay with the
! new organization and said, “All I ask of each of you is that he do his work
|. the best he can and give the new organization the same fidelity, effort and
loyalty that have been mine for so many years. And from me, as long as I
live, you will have an abiding affection. God bless everyone of you.”

This was the benediction of Cora Dow for those who had helped her
mount the ladder of success.

688

WOMEN OF OHIO

CARRIE RITTENHOUSE FAULKNER

Whether in business or in public office CARRIE RITTENHOUSE FAULK-
NER has proven both her ability and her adaptability, being ready for any
emergency or any opportunity. She is the wife of Amos E. Faulkner and
when her husband’s health failed she looked about to find some way of
meeting the situation which confronted her, with the result that she is now
proprietor and manager of Mrs. Faulkner’s Beauty Studio, one of the finest jl

establishments of the kind not only in Xenia, but in all Ohio. She also has I

important public service to her credit, having served as county treasurer.

Mrs. Faulkner was born in Clinton County, Ohio, a daughter of Omer
and Jennie (O’Day) Rittenhcruse, the mother born in August, 1863. The
father, who was born in April, 1844, was of German and English descent. , j

One of the uncles in the paternal line was Benjamin Wilson, who at one time I

was governor of West Virginia and was also United States Senator.

Mrs. Faulkner pursued her high school studies at Washington Court-
house, Ohio, and is a graduate of Drury College of Springfield, Missouri, ,|j
where she won a business degree. She was but four years of age when her
parents removed to Kansas and secured a ranch on the boundary of what
was then the Indian Territory but is now Oklahoma. There she spent her f
early girlhood and her playmates were the little Cherokee Indian children
who lived on the reservation near the Rittenhouse home. After completing t;
her studies she taught school for five years in Ohio and West Virginia, becom- o
ing a teacher in the Seventh Baptist College at Salem, West Virginia. She ftj
afterward was married in 1901 to Amos E. Faulkner of Xenia, Ohio, and for
a time engaged in business with her husband at Paintersville, this state, where
they had a general merchandise store. They next removed to Xenia, where Mr.
Faulkner became county auditor and Mrs. Faulkner assisted him as second
deputy auditor from 1914 to 1919. She now owns the Mrs. Faulkner’s Beauty
Studio, which she established in 1932, after taking a course in the Marinello j
Beauty College at Cincinnati. She won the highest honors at her graduation
and she is licensed both in Ohio and Florida. This undertaking was started
because Mr. Faulkner’s health failed and he had to give up active business.

She has built up one of the best known beauty studios in this and surrounding
counties and the business has been a profitable one almost from the beginning.

In the meantime Mrs. Faulkner had served as county treasurer, having jd
been appointed to fill out an unexpired term, after which she was elected for
the short term, which gave her three tax settlement periods while filling that
position. She was one of the first women in the entire United States to hold
a major political office and the report of the examiner for August 8, 1921,
of the department of audits for the State of Ohio contained the following:
“Mrs. Faulkner was treasurer during three collection periods covered by this
examination. She and her deputies have looked after the collection of delin-
quent personal taxes and have been very persistent in sending out notices and

/

WOMEN OF OHIO

689

she has made a record in the collection of delinquent personal taxes which is
indeed very commendable and has saved the county a tidy sum of money
that might have been paid in collection fees.

(Signed) S. S. Clifton, Examiner.

Mrs. Faulkner supports the Republican party, is active in its work and
is a past county chairman of the Republican women’s committee. She did
an outstanding work as organizer for the Daughters of America, having
organized one hundred and eight councils throughout the United States, doing
special work of this nature in North and South Carolina, Florida, Georgia,
Virginia, West Virginia, Michigan and Illinois, and she also organized the
first council in both Los Angeles and Oakland, California. She has member-
ship in the Methodist church and she is a past matron of the Eastern Star,
a past noble grand of the Rebekahs and past chief of the Pythian Sisters. She
deserves much credit for what she has accomplished along these lines and
for the zeal, courage and determination she has displayed in everything
she has undertaken.

MARY W. GIBSON

MARY W. GIBSON (Mrs. Alfred E.) of 2818 Corydon Road, Cleveland,
recently won a joint prize with her husband of $13,941.33 for a 300 page
study of commercial arc welding. Following her graduation from University
j of Denver with a B. A. in chemistry and a Masters of Arts degree, and after
I her marriage, Mrs. Gibson followed her husband’s work, helping him prepare
I articles for technical journals and addresses for scientific meetings.

They have three children.

MRS. WILLIAM HENRY COLLIER GOODE

MRS. WILLIAM HENRY COLLIER GOODE (Ida Haslup Goode), whose
public activity has largely been in connection with church work, was born in
Ohio and in her maidenhood was Ida Bingham Haslup. She is a descendant
of Hugh Bingham, who came to the United States about 1730, when this
| country was still numbered among the colonial possessions of Great Britain.

He settled in Virginia and his son, Hugh Bingham, Jr., took up his abode
I in the vicinity of Alexandria, Virginia, where he was living at the time of the
| Revolutionary War, in which he served as an ensign until American inde-
I pendence was won. He afterward removed to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania
I and in that district purchased a farm, on which his remaining days were spent,
j He married Mary White and family tradition has it that she was a descendant
I of Preserved White, who came to the new world as one of the passengers
| on the Mayflower in 1620.

The parents of Mrs. Goode were both natives of Virginia, but spent much
; of their lives in Maryland, where they were living at the time of their mar-

690

WOMEN OF OHIO

riage in 1837. They came to Ohio in, 1858, and of their family of seven child-
ren — George G., William, Robert B., Mary W., Emma, Ida and Ella, all were
born in Maryland but the last two, and with the exception of Mrs. Goode all
are now deceased. When the family came to Ohio in 1858 they settled in
Sidney where the parents continued to reside until called to their final rest.
The father w T as a manufacturer who first engaged in making plows and after-
ward mowers and reapers. The brothers also entered the manufacturing field
and were builders of road machinery in Sidney, including scrapers and exca-
vators.

Mrs. Goode is a graduate of the Sidney high school and she received her
Bachelor of Arts degree from Illinois Wesleyan University, and the honorary
degree of Bachelor of Laws from Ohio Wesleyan University. She took up
the profession of teaching and prior to her marriage was principal of the
Sidney high school for six years and also spent an equal period as high school
principal in Pueblo, Colorado.

In more recent years Mrs. Goode has devoted much of her time in a most
effective and resultant manner to church work and is now president of the
Woman’s Home Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal church, while
m other branches of the work of the church to which she belongs she has been
equally earnest and loyal. She has also done some work for the Republican
party and she is now one of the board of one hundred women of the New
York Fair.

CAROLINE HEIN

One of the outstanding business women of Cincinnati is CAROLINE
HEIN, the secretary of the Cincinnati Street Railway Company, a position she
has filled for a decade. A native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she attended
the grade and high schools of that city and afterward took up the study
of stenography. Her first position was in a bank in Pennsylvania. When
she was on a visit in Cincinnati in 1923 she learned that Senator James P>.
Foraker needed a private secretary, applied for the position and was accepted.
She continued to serve in that capacity until the death of Senator Foraker
and for a year thereafter remained with Mrs. Foraker, acting as her secretary.

When that period had expired she came to the Cincinnati Street Railway
Company as secretary to the president and so served until 1929 when she
was advanced to her present position as secretary of the company, being one
of the few women of the country with similar responsibilities. She has proven
an able executive, far-sighted, accurate and systematic in business affairs, and
has proven that her promotion was well merited.

Miss Hein takes an active interest in the Cincinnati Business Women’s
Club, of which she was president from 1933 to 1935. She is also a past presi-
dent of the Professional Women’s Club and of the Women’s City Club. She

WOMEN OF OHIO

691

has been particularly helpful in church work, especially in behalf of children
and has labored earnestly in the Sunday school. She was chosen chairman
of the committee to honor Judge Florence Allen and has figured prominently
in connection with many civic affairs. Her leisure hours are largely devoted
to good literature and in a review of her record, it is seen that her activities
have ever been of a nature that has contributed to the maintenance of higher
standards in business and in the lives of individuals, promoting in them a
recognition of their duties and responsibilities to others and to society at large.

HELEN PERRY JAMES

HELEN PERRY JAMES, president of the Business and Professional
Women’s Club of Cleveland, where she has also been well known in educa-
tional circles for a number of years, is a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
and a daughter of Owen and Elizabeth (Evans) James, the former a native
of Wales, while the mother was born in Pennsylvania. They spent practically
their entire lives in the Keystone state and the father was a Baptist minister.

Rev. and Mrs. James had a family of ten children, as follows: Arthur
and Melville, both now deceased ; Cleveland, who resides in Philadelphia ;
Genevieve, living in Springfield, Illinois ; Helen ; Dan, who makes his home
i in Williamsport, Pennsylvania and who is connected with the State highway
department; Margaret, who is the wife of Eugene Gise, of New York City;
Gertrude, the wife of James Connor of Merchantsville, New Jersey and who
has a daughter, Phillippa; Elizabeth, who is the wife of Gordon Sexton, also
I of Merchantsville, and who has three children, Gordon, Betty and Ellen ;
and Dorothy, deceased.

After spending a period as a student in the public schools of Hollidays-
burg, Pennsylvania, Helen P. James continued her education at Nashville,

| Tennessee, then at Titusville, Pennsylvania, and later at Johnstown, Penn-
sylvania, until she was graduated from the high school there. She afterward
took training for teaching the deaf and is now connected with the Alexander
! Graham Bell school of Cleveland, a public day school for the deaf, with
I which she has been associated as an instructor for about eighteen years, doing
j a splendid and effective work for the pupils under her guidance. This school
is located on Fifty-fifth street and the methods there followed embrace the
most modern and scientific ideas that have to do with teaching this class of
i unfortunates.

Since 1922 Miss James has been a member of the Business and Professional
Women’s Club of Cleveland, formerly served as chairman of some of its
| committees, was also program chairman for many years, has been its vice
i president and is now president of this progressive organization. She is also
I active in the Baptist Church of the Master in Cleveland and is on the board of
! Christian Education. Her life has reached out along constantly broadening
lines of usefulness.

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WOMEN OF OHIO

VIRGINIA KUNKLE JONES

The practical and the artistic seemed to have been most skillfully com-
bined in the nature of VIRGINIA KUNKLE JONES as a supplement to that
executive ability which she has always displayed in connection with the man-
agement of the Golden Lamb Tavern, the historic and interesting old hostelry
of Lebanon, which is today the oldest hotel in operation in the state. Built
about a century and a quarter ago, it is now conducted by Mr. and Mrs.
Robert H. Jones and retains all of the quaintness and the charm of that period.
Around it clings the romance and the history of the past and at the same time
it meets the requirements of modern day comfort and convenience.

Mrs. Jones who has been active in restoring the old tavern to the style
of a hundred years or more ago, was born in Springfield, Ohio, February 14,
1905, a daughter of Judge Albert Henry and Margaret (McCulloch) Kunkle.
Her father was a judge of the court of appeals and a prominent representa-
tive of Ohio’s judiciary. After completing the regular course of study in the
Springfield high school, Mrs. Jones attended Wittenberg College, from which
she was graduated in 1925, with the Bachelor of Arts degree. She also spent
one year at Hollins College. From Springfield she went to Lebanon where she
taught school until her marriage to Robert H. Jones, the wedding taking
place at Springfield, Ohio in 1928. They now have one daughter, Joan Kunkle
Jones, nine years of age. Following her marriage Mrs. Jones became actively
associated with her husband in the ownership and management of the famous
old Ohio tavern, known as the Golden Lamb. While in college she was
intensely interested in home economics and this stood her in good stead when
she and her husband entered the hotel business. They both have as their hobby
the collecting of native Ohio antiques, which are continually on display at
the Golden Lamb and which help give to this unusual tavern its authentic
atmosphere. The furnishings of many rooms are in original Ohio antiques.

The story is an interesting one. In 1811 Ichabod Corwin built the hotel,
which was conducted under the name of Henry Share’s Tavern until 1825.
For many years thereafter it was known as the Ohio and Pennsylvania Tavern
at the Sign of the Golden Lamb, then became the Bradley House and later
the Lebanon House, but it was the present proprietors who had the foresight
and the judgment to carry on its ancient traditions and hospitality under
the name of the Golden Lamb Tavern. The hotel is a large, rambling brick
structure of four stories, with large fireplaces and great chimneys, while a
picket fence at the side surrounds a lovely garden. There is still the same
old board flooring over which the first guests trod more than one hundred and
twenty-four years ago and the old colonial stairways leading to the guest
rooms above, while the original dining room is still in use. The rooms are
very spacious, many with individual fireplaces, while rag rugs and handwoven
carpets cover the floors and the chairs, beds, dressers, corner cupboards, spin-
ning wheels and other furnishings reflect the styles of a century or more ago,

WOMEN OF OHIO

693

much of the furniture being of that early period. The Golden Lamb has
sheltered many famous travelers for on one of the doors of the first landing
appears the name of Henry Clay, who on July 15, 1825 stopped here enroute
to Washington and was detained by the illness of his little daughter who
died here and was laid to rest in a Lebanon cemetery. On the door of an
adjoining room is the name of Charles Dickens, who with his wife was enter-
tained here April 20, 1842, and still other doors bear the names of John
Quincy Adams, Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, Rutherford B.
Hayes, James G. Blaine, DeWitt Clinton, William McKinley and Warren G.
Harding. The Golden Lamb has a charm all its own, reflecting the quiet and
contentment of the past, when men were not harassed with the business hurry
and unrest of the present. Ofttimes the lines of Longfellow have been quoted
relative to this interesting place :

As ancient is this hostelry
As any in the land may be,

Built in the old colonial day
When men lived in a grander way
With ampler hospitality.

Mrs. Jones who has done much to restore the Golden Lamb to its pristine
glory and charm, is well known in Lebanon and this part of the state. She is
I a member of Virginia Beta Chapter of Pi Beta Kappa of Hollins College, gives
I her political support to the Republican party and has membership in the Pres-
byterian church, but her activity largely centers in the old tavern opened by
j Ichabod Corwin a hundred and twenty-four years ago and which is today
I rich in its memories of the golden past.

VERONICA CATHERINE KELLEY

VERONICA CATHERINE KELLEY, residing in Gal ion, is a well known
representative of the business activity of Crawford County, being secretary
i and treasurer of the Kelley Manufacturing Corporation of Bucyrus, the duties
of which position she assumed in 1918. She is also prominent in art and
j drama circles in Galion, where she has spent her entire life. She is a daughter
( of Thomas F. and Nellie Mary (Baggs) Kelley, the former born in England
! in 1869 and the latter in Marion, Ohio in 1876. Her father is the originator
j of the metal burial vault industry, his first vault having been built in 1905
| in a small shop in the back of his home in Galion, since which time the
business has been developed until it is now an extensive enterprise.

His daughter Veronica attended the Marion High School and was grad-
j uated from St. Mary of the Springs College at Columbus, Ohio, in 1918,

| winning her diploma in elocution with her presentation of “Just David” and
“Peg o’ my Heart” in which she played all the parts. With her return
home she became the active assistant of her father in the Kelley Manufacturing
Corporation of Bucyrus, of which she was made secretary and treasurer.

694

WOMEN OF OHIO

This company manufactures the metal burial vaults brought out by her
father, and since July, 1938, Miss Kelley has been conducting the business
unaided, owing to the illness of her father. As manager, she directs the
activities of six salesmen who cover the entire country. She is one of the
few women buyers of steel in the United States, this requiring a highly
technical knowledge of the subject. She also has full charge of the fabrication
and purchases all other materials used by the concern, and, as well, manages
the office.

Since leaving the classroom Miss Kelley has never ceased to feel a keen
interest and delight in drama, literature and music. She was president of
the Gabon Study Club in 1936, after having served as its secretary in 1935,
and she is a member of The Drama Workshop of Gabon and is chairman of
the music committee of the Gabon Business & Professional Women’s Club.
Her interests, outside of business, center in drama and literature and she
frequently reviews books for the Study Club.

NORMA KLANKE

NORMA KLANKE, secretary-treasurer of the Ohio and Valley Bus Line,
was born in Cincinnati, one of a family of six children. Her financial assist-
ance was needed early in life due to the sudden death of her father. After
completing grade school, she managed one year at Woodward High School,
when her family had to have help. So she found employment with one of
the local factories, sewing. Norma Klanke did not intend, however, to sew
for a living. She immediately started to East Night High School, taking short-
hand and bookkeeping, during which time she was successful in obtaining a
position with a local automobile agency as stenographer. Presently Norma
took over the bookkeeping for this company and ten years later she had
charge of the office. The position paid her $3.50 per week to start. She was
earning $25.00 per week at the time she left. Norma’s next job paid her
$40.00 per week; the next $50.00.

When most people still thought the auto bus was just a passing fancy,
its chances looked good to Norma Klanke. By this time she had obtained a
certificate in accounting at the University of Cincinnati, she understood
finance and was willing to accept responsibility.

So she joined up with a bus business started with seven coaches. Today
they travel thousands and thousands of miles, operating 70 coaches and use
a million gallons of gas every year.

It was hard work, long hours and sometime very discouraging but Miss
Klanke believes in seeing things through. And she did. For ten years she
has taken courses at the University of Cincinnati. In addition to accounting,
finance and English, she has taken commercial law, speaking courses, tax
courses as well as numerous other subjects; in fact, she is still studying at
U. C. “When we stop learning, we stop growing,” says Norma Klanke.

WOMEN OF OHIO

695

Miss Klanke is one of the leaders of the Cincinnati Business and Pro-
fessional Women’s Club and in the national organization as well. She be-
longs to the Cincinnati Woman’s Rotary Club, to the National Association
of Cost Accountants. She has even found time to help in the social service
given by her church, to teach in the Sunday School.

She lives with her mother in the old family homestead, from which on
the sudden death of her father, she started out to find work — at 14 years
of age.

“Employment can be found,” says Norma Klanke — “But education and
training must be worked for.”

ANNA MILLER KNOTE

ANNA MILLER KNOTE, national executive secretary of Alpha Xi Delta
and editor of its magazine, published under the same name, has likewise been
national president of the society and is equally well known because of her
former activity as an educator. She is a resident of Mansfield, Ohio, in which
she was born, a daughter of Charles H. and Katherine Ann (Krouse) Knote.
Her father, a native of Switzerland, became a resident of Mansfield in young
manhood and for many years was with the old Altman-Taylor Company of
this city. His daughter is a graduate of the Mansfield High School and also
of Wittenberg College, after which she engaged in teaching Latin and Greek
for four years. She then entered Columbia University, where she received
her Bachelor of Arts degree, after pursuing her studies there from 1918 to
1922. She then began teaching modern and European history in the Mansfield
High School.

Her recognized ability led to her selection for the position of national
executive secretary of the Alpha Xi Delta, and she has also been national vice
president and national president of the society from 1922 to 1938, while at
the present writing she is also editor of the Alpha Xi Delta magazine. In
her position as executive secretary she has visited approximately one hundred
colleges in every state in the Union, attending conferences and making
speeches to the local organizations, and much of the distance from point to
point she has covered in her own car, being an enthusiastic motorist.

In politics Miss Knote is a Republican but not a politician although
feeling a keen interest in the vital questions of the day, on which she keeps
well informed. She has long been an active worker in the Young Women’s
Christian Association, is a past president and is now serving on the board
of trustees. She was also formerly president of the Mansfield Federation of
Women’s Clubs, is president of the Victorian Club and a member of the
Fortnightly Club. Her home is at 119 Carpenter Road, Mansfield and her
hobby is gardening. She belongs to the American Association of University
Women and is not only an intellectual woman and educator but also one of
liberal culture and charm, outstanding among the residents of her native
city.

WOMEN OF OHIO

69 (j

ROSE KNOX

In Mansfield, Ohio there was born to David and Amanda Markward in
1857 a baby daughter, the third girl to come into their family. The name
given to her was Helen Rosetta, which raised the question in the family as
to what they should really call her. As the result, she went through life
with many names — Rose, Rosa, Ro. With her school friends Rose was
known as “Dode” Markward. But for many years her name has been MRS.
CHARLES KNOX, President of the Knox Gelatine Company and one of the
best known business women of the United States.

She was a dark complexioned little girl — jet black hair, black eyes and
rosy cheeks — an outdoor girl loving all the sports connected with such a
life. She grew up with the same crowd of young people from the Primary
School through High School and has to this day a very loving memory of
them all and is interested in their lives. She attended the Congregational
Church.

Her father was a successful business man, a druggist, and all went well
with them until the year of the Panic of 1872. Mr. Markward had invested
heavily in real estate and a lead mine in Missouri, but he could not weather
the financial storm and they lost everything. In those days it was not
considered proper for girls to go out of the home to earn a living.

By this time the two older sisters had married and were going east to
live in a town where it was a common thing for the women of the household
to do glove work, both in the home and in the shops. So the entire family
came east together and settled in Gloversville, N. Y. After living there for
a number of years there came to a nearby town (Johnstown) a young man
by the name of Charles Knox who had lately lived in Texas, and gave every
evidence of it both in manner and dress. All the girls found him very
attractive. To Rose Markward he was all that and then some. Their friend-
ship became an engagement. But Charles was not finding employment that
he was interested in around the home town. About this time, though, an
older man was giving up his position in New York City and recommended
Charlie Knox for his position of a traveling salesman for a knit goods house,
so the wedding was delayed for nearly three years until there was sufficient
money. That happy time came in 1883 when they were married and went
to New York City.

In 1890 Mr. Knox had tired of a traveler’s life and became interested in
a comparatively new food product — Gelatine — and came to his old home
town, Johnstown, New York, and built a factory for its manufacture.

Mr. Knox died in 1908. His widow was 50 years old. It was late in life
for a woman to start a business career, but Rose Knox was not starting, really.
She had been the virtual partner of her husband, interesting herself in many
details of the gelatine business until it had grown into a large manufacturing
concern. That is, it seemed large, then. You should see it now. Under the

WOMEN OF OHIO

697

management of the woman president — Mrs. Knox became chief executive
and has remained head ever since — the output trebled in volume. It was
necessary to build a huge new factory. By 1927, President Rose Knox had
put $500,000 into food research connected with her product. She had a
huge plant at Camden, N. J. She had established rules and seen that they
were rigidly observed by her employees. One of these was not just cleanliness
— that had always been the rule — but a scientific cleanliness that placed
responsibility for any trace of dirt or disorder. Perhaps one reason why the
business woman’s employees were willing and anxious to observe such a rule as
this was another rule, which did away in her new factory, with what is known
as the “employee’s entrance.” At the Knox factory, in Johnstown, N. Y.,
everybody, Mrs. Knox, her 50 year old son, who shares her long flat table
desk and is her right hand in business, secretaries, clerks, factory workers,
watchman, janitors all come in at the big front door. “We are all in business
together,” says Rose Knox, “so why not?”

Mrs. Knox likes to talk about her business, but she will not discuss what
happens to much of her share of its profits. The townsfolk of Johnstown
will, though. They point with pride to the $200,000.00 athletic field she
established for the children of the community ; to the home for elderly women ;
to the school library; to many other concrete evidences of a lively and
practical interest in the welfare of those about her.

It seems incredible that a woman past four score — Mrs. Knox celebrated
her eightieth birthday with a dinner party for the 110 fellow workers she
employs, last year — could be found at her desk, day in and day out, in touch
with every detail of a two million dollar business, leave promptly for her
office at 9 a.m. after having made the rounds of her large household. It
seems still harder to believe that an octogenarian, after a busy day, would
be ready for a rubber or two of bridge at night, not to speak of a final round
of the kitchen and doubtless the family ice box, to see that all is in good
order. But Rose Knox has a formula for living that, she believes, accounts
for her own exceptional lease on usefulness. “Think about the things you can
help,” she says, “do not think about those you cannot.” This difference,
between constructive and destructive, is all the difference in the world.

SARAH JOSEPHINE Mac LEOD
SARAH JOSEPHINE MACLEOD, budget expert for the Society for
Savings of Cleveland and widely recognized as an authority upon matters
of this kind, not only in financial circles, but also by the general public,
came to this city in 1919 and throughout the intervening years has occupied
her present position. She is a native of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a
daughter of Joseph and Jessie (MacGregor) MacLeod, the former born near
Belfast, Ireland, and the latter near Glasgow, Scotland, where they were
1 married. They came to the United States in 1883 and settled in Cambridge,

698

WOMEN OF OHIO

Massachusetts, where the father engaged in business as a building contractor,
which pursuit he followed throughout his active life. He died in 1902, while
his widow survived until 1936. They had two children who died in Scotland
before the removal of the family to the new world. Their other children are:
Grace, a professor at Columbia University; William and John, both deceased;
Sarah Josephine; Jessie and Joseph, who have passed away; and Florence,
who is a professor at the University of Tennessee.

Sarah J. MacLeod attended the grade schools in her native city and also
the Cambridge Latin School, from which she was graduated with the class
of 1904. She then entered Simmons College of Boston, majoring in home
economics, and graduating in 1909. Following the completion of her course
there she taught school in Springfield, Massachusetts for three years and
afterward went to Pratt Institute of Brooklyn, New York, where she taught
for six and a half years, going from there to Washington, D. C., where she
was specialist in thrift education at the Bureau of Home Economics, in
cooperation with the Treasury department in the promotion of war savings
stamps from January to July, 1919, having had a leave of absence from Pratt
Institute in order to aid the government, then participating in the events
having to do with the federal fiscal policy following the World War.

After leaving the national capital Miss MacLeod came to Cleveland and
was made head of the department of the Society for Savings which she still
manages, her official title being that of budget expert. She has delved deep
into matters of this kind, has broad vision and keen discernment and has
been of great help to the bank and many of its patrons. In April, 1937, she
also became budget expert of the Cleveland Press.

Miss MacLeod is a member of the Association of Bank Women of which
she was treasurer for three years and at the present time is chairman of its
finance committee. She belongs to the American Home Economics Association,
also to the Cleveland and Ohio Home Economics Associations, has member-
ship in the Altruso Club and attends the Presbyterian Church. She finds
enjoyment in bridge and travel and has recently returned from an extended
trip in Norway and Denmark. She is also well known through her writings
and has contributed numerous articles to the Ladies Home Journal, Good
Housekeeping and to various bankers magazines.

CLARA MANZER

CLARA MANZER, of Galion, Ohio, was secretary to the late Bishop
William Montgomery Brown of Crawford County for thirty years and is
co-executor of his estate. This skilled worker assisted with thirty-five notable
publications, doing all research, typing, proofreading, clipping and she edited
“The Bankruptcy of Christian Supernaturalism” and “The Facist and Com-
munist Dictatorship. ’ ’

Miss Manzer was born at Galion, as were her parents, Charles and Emma
Gugler Manzer.

WOMEN OF OHIO

699

She is a charter member of the Tourist Club; has been chairman of the
scholarship loan fund of the Galion Federation of Women’s Clubs and is
an officer in the Eastern Star.

GENEVA CRAIG MARTIN

GENEVA CRAIG MARTIN (Mrs. James M. Martin), born in 1861, died
in 1928, was one of Ohio’s successful business women. She is reported to have
owned more real estate in Crestline, Ohio, than any other individual.

Through her efforts and those of MRS. F. J. GOSSER, the Crestline
Emergency Hospital was built.

Of Revolutionary descent, Mrs. Martin was president of the Civic League
for twenty-five years. She was also president of the Woman’s Club and
president of the Presbyterian Aid Society for fifteen years.

As president of the Civic Club, she saw a rest-room installed in the City
Building at a cost of $700.00 during her regime. Equipment to the amount
of $1,500.00 was given to Kelly Park Playground by the same organization
and milk w T as furnished to needy students.

I Mrs. Martin was a member of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific
circle.

Her daughter, Mrs. Ilene Martin Goard, succeeded her as manager of the
real estate business.

MARTHA SIMPSON MARTIN

MARTHA SIMPSON MARTIN is a woman of broad experience because
! of her activities in club circles, in the church, in the business world, in
politics and in other fields that call for intelligence and keen insight. She is
the wife of Davis Wesley Martin, who is connected with the Owens-Illinois
| Glass Company, in the credit department at Toledo. She was born in Jack-
sonville, Illinois, where her father was connected with the Wabash Railroad.
Both he and his wife are now deceased. Their family numbered four children,
of whom Margaret is the wife of W. R. Barney, a banker at Jefferson,

I Oklahoma; William H., who is auditor for the Fort Smith & Western Rail-
road, married Marne Gilmore and they have one son, William H., Jr. The
other members of the family are Minnie P. and Mrs. Martin.

Having attended the grade schools of Jacksonville, Illinois, and graduated
; from the high school there, Mrs. Martin attended Eureka College at Eureka,
Illinois, where she was graduated in 1915. On the 17th of May of the same
year she became the wife of Davis Wesley Martin, who is also a native of
Jacksonville and attended the grade and high schools there and later studied
at Eureka College. In the fall of the year after they were married they both
entered Yale University as students in the School of Religion, and after the
completion of their course there, they went to Patterson, New York, where
Mr. Martin was pastor of a church for a time. In the spring of 1919 they

700

WOMEN OF OHIO

came to Toledo and Mr. Martin was pastor of the East Church of Christ for |
a year, at the end of which time he became connected with the Lion store, 1
where he continued for six years, being assistant superintendent when he
severed his association with that establishment. He also spent seven years with
the LaSalle Koch Company as manager of the adjustment and credit
department.

Mrs. Martin also entered into various activities of the city. She was J j
secretary of the Moderation League and when that organization removed its
office to Cleveland, she became secretary to Joe Murphy, president of the j
Toledo Coal & Ice Company, remaining there for five years. In 1935 she
became secretary to the county auditor of Lucas County, serving in that
capacity for four years. Both Mr. and Mrs. Martin are supporters of the 1
Democratic party. He is an artist in monotype, water colors and oil, and
Mrs. Martin is also interested in art. One of her recent interests has been
the Business and Professional Woman’s Club of Toledo, in which she has
filled all the offices and is now the retiring president, while she was made a
delegate to the national convention for the year 1939. She has served as vice j
president of the City Union of the King’s Daughters and she belongs to the *
Samagama Club which is composed of past presidents who remain active, j 1
She also belongs to the Adult Education Council, to the Cause and Cure of
War Council and to the National Woman’s party. She has also been active ;
in the Young Ladies Democratic Club. She is one of the reporters from Lucas
County, being on the postal system and their work embraced international
relations and social security. The reporters are called upon to go before J
meetings and discuss the plans and other topics, the organization being really
educational in its purposes. She belongs to the Ashland Avenue Baptist
Church, and both she and her husband take an active and helpful part in 1

its work. After coming to Toledo, Mrs. Martin attended the University of
Toledo, where she took a course in accounting. She has constantly broadened j
her knowledge by reading, study and experience learning much of life and
its values and she has reached out along beneficial lines to her fellow
travelers on life’s journey, speaking an encouraging word and extending a j
helpful hand, while her good intentions have come home to her in her own
development and progress.

ZELLA A. McBEBTY

ZELL A A. McBERTY, born at Mineral Ridge, Ohio, August 27, 1878, died
at Warren, Ohio, May 24, 1937, was during the latter part of her life listed
as one of the ten outstanding women in the United States. Her parents, Mr.
and Mrs. William A. Wilson, died when she was 16 and her only sister died
a short time later.

In 1929 Mrs. McBerty was elected president of District D of Zonta Clubs,
this district including Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan, Iowa and

WOMEN OF OHIO

701

Tennessee. She was secretary of the million-dollar-a-year plant of the Federal
Machine and Welder Co. of Warren.

Mrs. McBerty served as postmistress and conducted a general store at
Meander, where the large Meander Dam is now located.

In 1901, with her husband, F. P. McBerty, she went into the business
of making and developing spot welding machines. Shortly after the business
was started question arose involving the invention of spot welding process
and after considerable litigation the claim was settled and Mr. McBerty
was declared the inventor of the process. From that time the business de-
veloped rapidly. The injunction which held up the production of the welding
machines was a problem to several large sheet metal manufacturers of the
country and later these firms purchased the Federal Machine and Welder
Co. plant for $175,000 cask.

After a brief period the Federal Plant was repurchased by F. P. Mc-
Berty as president and general manager of the concern and Mrs. Zella A.
McBerty secretary and treasurer. H. C. Milligan, who was president of the
Republic Stamping and Enameling Co., Canton, O., was vice president.

Mrs. McBerty was the first woman member of the Warren Automobile
Club, was one of the few women members of the Woman’s Engineering
Association of the United States and also had membership in the A.I.E.E. of
America.

Mrs. McBerty served as president of the board of Harcourt School for
Girls at Gambier. It was during her term as president of the Ohio Federation
of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs that the Florence Allen Scholar-
ship Fund was started, to assist girls toward higher education. The fund was
named for Judge Allen, then of Ohio Supreme Court, a member of the
Federation. In June, 1924, Mrs. McBerty gave an address at a conference of
Women in Science, Industry and Commerce at Manchester, England, her
paper being on “Electric Welding.”

Her religion, Mrs. McBerty said, was “the best of service to her fellow-
men.”

ALICE ENGLEHARDT McLAUGHLIN
ALICE ENGELHARDT McLAUGHLIN (Mrs. Harry McLaughlin), for-
mer vice president of the Potter Shoe Company, was born in Cincinnati, the
daughter of Charles and Helen Vohtna Engelhardt, Her father came to this
country with his parents from Germany. They were one of the many families
who sought, in 1848, opportunity in a new world which had been denied
them in the old.

This spirit of determination was handed down to the four children of
the Engelhardts notably in the case of Alice, who speeded up her school
studies in order to prepare herself for work as soon as possible. She learned
bookkeeping, took a minor position, learned all there was to learn, got a

702

WOMEN OF OHIO

promotion and presently was bookkeeper of one of Cincinnati’s most im-
portant shoe firms. This, however, was but the beginning of Alice Engel-
hardt’s career.

She proceeded to master the business details of the wholesale shoe trade ;
became an authority in this field and finally was made vice president of the
firm, in which capacity she worked unremittingly until 1935 when she retired.

A year later she was married to Harry McLaughlin, long a leading
official of the firm with which Miss Engelhardt was connected. Their union
was broken by the sudden death of Mr. McLaughlin, in June, 1936.

Her talent for and pre-occupation with business did not obscure the
interest of Mrs. McLaughlin in the problems and possibilities of those about
her. She helped to organize the Cincinnati Business Women’s Club and
twice served as president. She has also served the Campfire Girls as treasurer,
has been secretary of the Travelers Aid Society, treasurer of the Hamilton
County League of Women Voters and State Finance Chairman of the Ohio
League of Women Voters. She has been a member of the finance committee
of the National Business and Professional Woman’s Club and has done much
to further the progress of this important country wide organization.

Mrs. McLaughlin has worked in co-operation with the women’s com-
mittee of the Symphony Orchestra and has devoted time and effort to pro-
motion of a better understanding of the problems of teachers and of the
needs of the public schools.

DORIS BOWMAN MERRYMAN

DORIS BOWMAN MERRYMAN (Mrs. Sidney W. Merryman), Toledo
store owner and manager and supervisor of the Adult Clothing Relief Center,
was born at Springfield, Ohio, the daughter of Charles and Annie Bowman.
On leaving high school she studied vocal music and art intensively and for
fourteen years conducted a ceramic art studio. She was married in 1917 to
Sidney W. Merryman, Toledo business man. Their home is 2200 Cherry St.,
Toledo.

LEONORE MADELON MILLS

LEONORE MADELON MILLS, president of the Business and Profes-
sional Women’s Club of Toledo, has been connected with the business interests
of this city almost since the completion of her education. She is a daughter
of Charles P. and Annie (Johnston) Mills, both natives of Ohio, the father
having been born in Toledo and the mother in Perrysburg. He has passed
away and the mother and her daughter Leonore are living together.

The latter, born in Toledo, attended the public schools, passing from
one grade to a higher one until she was graduated from the Scott high school.
She also pursued a course in a business college and did some night school
work at the University. Almost at once she decided upon a business career

WOMEN OF OHIO

703

and entered the employ of Wright Brothers, owners of a greenhouse, with
whom she remained for several years. She was afterward with the Toledo
Scales Company and later with the Campbell-Sanford Advertising Company,
while in 1933 she formed a connection with Carl J. Fischer, Inc., a stock and
bond house of Toledo, where she is still employed.

Miss Mills belongs to the Pi Omicron, a national sorority, and is corres-
ponding secretary of the State chapter. She is also secretary at Toledo of the
National Woman’s party and keeps thoroughly informed on the vital questions
and interests which have to do with woman’s status in the body politic and
her rights as compared to those granted to men. Miss Mills is a member of
the Monroe Street Methodist church and for a number of years was very active
in its missionary society, in which she is still interested. She belongs to the
Business and Professional Women’s Club, one of the most important and most
influential of the women’s organizations of the city and on the 1st of June,
1939, was elected to the presidency, which at once establishes her position as
a leader among the women of the city.

ROSE MORIARTY

One of Cleveland’s women active in political circles is ROSE MORIARTY,
who for twelve years has filled the position of workmen’s compensation con-
sultant. A lifelong resident of Ohio, she was born in Elyria, December 19,
1885, her parents being Thomas and Ellen (Enright) Moriarty. Both were
of Irish lineage and the father was born in Ireland in December, 1821, while
the mother’s birth occurred in December, 1831.

Spending her girlhood days in her native city Miss Moriarty there pur-
sued her education, graduating from the high school with the class of 1900.
She continued a resident of Elyria until December 1, 1917 and filled the posi-
tion of city clerk there from the 3rd of October, 1917 until December, when
she withdrew from that office to remove to Cleveland, where she has now
made her home for twenty-two years. She is a recognized leader among
women in the political circles not only of the city and county but also of the
state. Giving stalwart support to the Republican party, she is now serving
as a member of the Cuyahoga County Republican executive committee and
was the first Republican state chairman in 1920. Her opinions carry weight
in party councils for she understands political management and the need for
thorough organization and moreover she keeps well informed on all the vital
questions and issues of the day. The value of her service as workmen’s com-
pensation consultant is evidenced in the fact that she has been retained in
that position since August 1, 1927.

All civic affairs are a matter of deep interest to Miss Moriarty and
prompts her connection with the League of Women Voters, while her member-
ship connections also extend to the Cleveland Women’s City Club and the
Business Women’s Club of Cleveland.

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WOMEN OF OHIO

DOROTHY LOUISE MORRISON

DOROTHY LOUISE MORRISON is active in both business and musical
circles of Sidney. Advancing through merit and ability, she is now secretary
of the First Mutual Savings & Loan Company, with which she has been con-
nected since 1927. She has spent practically her entire life in Ohio for she
was born in Urbana, Champaign County, on the 23rd of July, 1899 and is a
daughter of Earl Hedges and Lillie (Horn) Morrison, who were also natives
of Urbana. The father afterward removed with his family to Sidney, where
he engaged in business with the Sidney Tanning Company. His death occurred
in 1927 and his wife now makes her home with her daughter Dorothy L.
They had two children, of whom Grace Elizabeth is filling the position of
bookkeeper in the First National Exchange Bank of Sidney.

Dorothy L. Morrison attended the grade schools in Urbana and spent one
year in high school there, after which the family came to Sidney, where she
re-entered high school as a sophomore and completed the course. She then
made her initial step in the business world as an employe of the Citizens
National Bank, where she remained for nine years. She then went to the
Pacific coast, spending a year in California, after which she returned to Sidney
and for a year was with the Sidney Paper Box Company. In 1927 she became
bookkeeper with the First Mutual Savings & Loan Company, being advanced
later to the position of assistant secretary, while a subsequent promotion has
brought her to the office of secretary of this corporation.

Miss Morrison belongs to the Delta Theta sorority, is a member of the
Eastern Star and of St. Mark’s Episcopal church. She has always been a
music lover and she is now active in the choir of the Presbyterian church and
belongs to a group of Sidney musicians, known as the Colonial Singers. Her
social activities are largely represented in the Sidney Country Club, of which
she is a member, and she greatly enjoys golfing.

BERTHA B. OBERLANDER

The spirit of business enterprise and progressiveness finds exemplification
in the life record of BERTHA B. OBERLANDER, who has turned one of the
strong and active interests of her life — her appreciation of antiques — into a
source of profit through the conduct of three well appointed antique stores,
one in Palm Beach, Florida, one in Greensboro, North Carolina and one in
Bucyrus, Ohio, in which city she makes her home, giving her supervision to
her establishment here. Her business however has made her name widely
known throughout the country among the lovers of antiques everywhere.

Mrs. Oberlander is a native of Kansas, but in her young girlhood she was
brought to Ohio by her parents who settled in Cleveland, where she attended
school until graduated from high school. She also completed a course in
Normal school and subsequently took up the profession of teaching which
she followed until her marriage, when she came to Bucyrus, where she has
since made her home.

WOMEN OF OHIO

703

Mrs. Oberlander has always been a lover of antiques, enjoying the beauty
of coloring and design as seen in the creations of the past, and through col-
lecting for her own benefit she gradually drifted into the business and for
years has been especially active in this field. Not only has she conducted
a successful business in Bucyrus, but has extended the field of her operations
by establishing a store in North Carolina and one in Florida, which meet the
tourist as well as the local trade.

The store in Greensboro is now under the management of her son, Ross,
the elder of her two children. Her daughter, Beth, who is a graduate of Ohio
Wesleyan College and also of the Conservatory of Music in Boston, is now
located in that city. Mrs. Oberlander is regarded as a very keen and dis-
criminating business woman, who has prospered in her undertakings in the
commercial field, but is also prominent socially in Bucyrus. She is a member
of the Methodist church and she has many friends in this city where she has
now long resided.

MABEL C. OTTING

MABEL C. OTTING is a prominent young business woman of Cincinnati.
For four years, 1923-1927 she was assistant manager of the Hotel Gibson
and at the time of her appointment was the only woman assistant hotel man-
ager in the United States. Since 1927 she has been private secretary to Judge
Alfred K. Nippert and Louis Nippert, attorneys.

President of the Woman’s Rotary Club, Miss Otting is also active in the
Three Arts Club and devotes considerable time to her music. She is soprano
soloist with the College Hill Presbyterian Choir. Her organizations include
the Women’s Auxiliary, Hotel Greeters of America, of which she is a life
member.

Born in Cincinnati, she is the daughter of Bernard Otting, a lieutenant
of police, and Anna M. Otting, both native Cincinnatians. Her sister is Mrs.
Grace LaPoris, Bureau of Vital Statistics, and she has two brothers, Bernard
F. Otting, a radio engineer, and Frank Otting, service station manager.

CLARA M. PRESSLER

It is safe to say that a popularity chart on Cincinnati business women
would show CLARA M. PRESSLER (Mrs. Edward William Pressler) as
among the all time tops.

One reason, perhaps, is that from the start she recognized business as,
fundamentally, a human institution the basic success of which is best regis-
tered in terms of human service. Another reason might be that she set herself
at the outset of her business life to learn her business so completely that it
could and would function in terms advantageous to herself as well as to all
others concerned.

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WOMEN OF OHIO

Mrs. Pressler began to carve this niche in the business world when, in
1910, she assumed management of Cincinnati’s first cafeteria, opened a short
time previous by her husband, E. W. Pressler. It was the outgrowth of a
trip to the Pacific Coast made in 1908 by Mr. Pressler, then engaged in the
restaurant business in Cincinnati. Now this erstwhile experiment caters daily
to approximately 1500 persons, the greater number of them business men.

Mrs. Pressler, for whom working with foods has always been a challenge
rather than a chore, believed that introduction of this new method in food
serving would benefit by the more or less natural aptitude of women in food
selection and preparation. So she assumed supervision of this part of the
business.

Eating, Mrs. Pressler realized, is an activity that long had the home as
its most satisfactory background.

So she considered carefully how best to develop a home atmosphere in
the establishment.

She saw to it that the food purveyed should be in quality, quantity and
preparation, the best possible under the business set up. She provided for
preparation of all food, as far as this was possible, in the cafeteria’s own kitch-
ens. Mrs. Pressler realized men are very often allergic to carrying their own
food to a table. So it was arranged that trays be carried by attendants. She
believed that the “tipping” practice was, on the whole, unsatisfactory all
round. So wage scales were adjusted to the elimination of this custom and
tipping prohibited.

All this tended to build up a closely knit working organization, members
of which cooperated enthusiastically. One illustration of this is the dormitory
established by Mrs. Pressler for women workers when the cafeteria moved
to a more extensive location. Some of her 65 staff members have been with
her since the opening of the business.

Clara Pressler began her business career with the Great China Tea Com-
pany. She met her husband while he was buying products for his restaurant
and was married in 1900.

Throughout her business life, Mrs. Pressler has shared her highly special-
ized skill by giving much time and energy to social and public service. As a
member of the national, state and local restaurant associations, her advice was
sought in dealing with the problems of food at county institutions. She
initiated the Ladies Auxiliary of the Convent of the Good Shepherd, thus
enabling the sisterhood to care for girls through courses in vocational guidance.

She was a charter member and vice president of the Cincinnati Business
and Professional Women’s Club and has held membership in the Cincinnati
Woman’s Rotary Club and the Woman’s City Club.

Mrs. Pressler is a former board member of the Catholic Women’s Club, a
former president of the Ladies Auxiliary of St. Aloysius Orphanage and a
highly helpful member of the Catholic Women’s Association. She was the

WOMEN OF OHIO

707

first woman board member of the City Charter Committee, an outstanding
recognition of civic interest.

Despite her many duties and services, Mrs. Pressler has found time to
travel extensively abroad and devoted, in the past, her first care and considera-
tion to the rearing of her two daughters, Margaret Mary Pressler, now a well
known New York artist, and Mrs. Joseph Myers of Cincinnati, who is expected
to follow in her mother’s business footsteps.

Born in Cincinnati in 1882, Mrs. Pressler was the daughter of Francis
Memmel, dry goods merchant, and Christiana Memmel, both Cincinnatians.
Her two grandfathers, Martin M. Memmel, mayor for 40 years of Green Town-
ship, Hamilton County, and William Prehn, were Civil War veterans.

The Pressler home is at 2518 Cleinview Ave. That is, one of Mrs. Press-
ler ’s homes. The other is the place in which so many of her fellow human
beings assemble daily to challenge her skill in large scale housewifery.

IDA FLORENCE PRESTON

IDA FLORENCE PRESTON, business executive and editor, of Cleveland,
Ohio, received her B. A. at Alleghany College and did post graduate work
I at the University of Pennsylvania and Cleveland College. She is executive
secretary of the Lindner Co., of Cleveland and editor of “The Announcer”
! sponsored by the Adult Education Association. For a time Miss Preston was
in charge of the editorial department of the Cleveland Clinic. She is an active
member of the Women’s Overseas Service League and was given the decora-
tion of Daughter of the British Empire for her World War service.

KATE RESOR

KATE RESOR, trustee of the Grossbeck estate is regarded as one of
| the ablest business women of Cincinnati, in which city her entire life has
I been passed. She is a daughter of Charles H. and Marie L. (Handley) Resor
j and is a representative of one of the oldest families of Cincinnati, being a
granddaughter of Isaac Burnett, who was the first mayor here. Her mother
[ was born in Kentucky but her father was a native of Cincinnati, being a son
[of William Resor, the founder of the William Resor Company, manufacturers
j of stoves and heaters to which they afterward added the manufacture of
j furnaces, having one of the leading industrial enterprises here.

Kate Resor first attended the Ely school, which was built on land on
which the first settlement of the Resor family was made after their removal
to Ohio. She was also a pupil in a convent school and later a student in a
business college, where she took up stenography and bookkeeping. In the
pear 1907 she entered the employ of Mr. Grossbeck, one of the most prominent
msiness men of the city, and has since continued with the business, filling
•esponsible office positions, including that of secretary. She has constantly
)roadened her knowledge and promoted her efficiency in the field in which

708

WOMEN OF OHIO

she has put forth her efforts and following the death of Mr. Grossbeck in !
1936 she has been a trustee of the large estate which he left,, all who know j
her recognizing her fitness for the important duties and responsibilities which
devolve upon her in her present business connection.

Miss Resor has a country home and farm near Cincinnati and her hobby |
is raising collie dogs. She is a member of the Daughters of the American
Revolution and of the Catholic Church and gives her political allegiance to J i
the Republican party.

E. CHRISTINE RIECK

E. CHRISTINE RIECK is one of the owners of the funeral home con-
ducted under the name of C. E. Curtis & Company, Inc., at Marion, where d
she has made her home since 1913. She was born in Findlay, Ohio, a daughter J ]
of Charles and Flora M. (Watt) Rieck, the latter also a native of Findlay, !
while the father was born in Germany. Their family numbered three chil- !
dren, the others being Ann and Carl W., who are still residents of Findlay j
where they are conducting the decorating business which was established by
their father. The son married Edna Campbell of Findlay and they are the I
parents of four daughters — Sara Ann, Nancy Jane, Barbara Jean and Jane i
Elaine.

The Findlay schools afforded Miss Rieck her early educational privileges
and after her graduation from high school there she spent two years as a
student in the Ohio Wesleyan University. In 1914, the year following her
removal to Marion, she became associated with the undertaking firm of <
Postle & Curtis, the predecessor of C. E. Curtis & Company, Inc., and in
1918 she purchased an interest in the business with which she has now been
identified for a quarter of a century. She first served as an office girl and
is now lady assistant and hostess in the funeral home, as well as a partner
in the company, and she also makes the funeral gowns, as needed, thus j
filling a place in connection with the business that a man could not do. She *
also sings for the funerals which are held at the home, and her tact and
sympathy are greatly appreciated by all with whom she comes in contact. | <

In club circles Miss Rieck is widely known and popular. She early
joined the Quest Club, a literary organization, and she is a member of the.
Lecture Recital Club, a music club, of which she was treasurer for several
years and for a long period a member of its executive board. She has
membership in the Altrusa Club, of which she has been both secretary and
treasurer, while in 1937-8 she was its president. She is now president (1939)
of the Burroughs Nature Club and she belongs to the Kuchperwari Club, a
card club of Marion. She takes a most active interest in the work of these
various clubs and undoubtedly has accomplished a great deal in this direction.

Miss Rieck attends the Christian Science Church. Her love of flowers!
finds expression in her connection with the Marion Garden Club and especially

WOMEN OF OHIO

709

in her enthusiastic work in her beautiful garden in the rear of the funeral
home, especial features of which are a rockery and pool. She also enjoys
making scrap books on interior decorating and thus her hobbies lean toward
the beautiful. A love of animals, especially cats, is also one of her character-
istics, and life holds for her many happy hours in carrying out her interests
along these various lines, which enrich and beautify existence.

ELIZABETH WHITMORE RYDER
Actively associated with the business interests of Bucyrus since assuming
her present position as office manager of the Ryder Brass Foundry, ELIZA-
BETH WHITMORE RYDER (Mrs. Parmly H. Ryder), is also numbered
among the leading women of the city because of her social prominence and
! her church activities. Born in Akron, Summit County, December 24, 1881,
| she is a daughter of William H. and Virginia (Weeks) Whitmore, the father
[ a native of East Liverpool, Ohio, and the mother of Copley, this state. Her
| ancestors were closely connected with events that have shaped the history
j of the middle west. Her grandmother, Elizabeth Wilcox Weeks, wife of
i Darius Weeks, was born at Fort Edwards, now Warsaw, Illinois, a daughter
of John R. Wilcox, who brought her to Summit County, Ohio, on horseback
; after her mother died. John Wilcox had entered West Point Academy in
' 1800, when eighteen years of age, completing his course there when twenty-
I two years of age and was ordered to frontier military duty at Fort Edwards,

1 Illinois, being major in command there. For many years he was in the
I United States Army. The great-grandfather of Elizabeth Wilcox Weeks was
I James Pritchard, who was a member of the first territorial legislature at
| Chillicothe, November 24, 1779. He was also a member of the state senate in
the third general assembly in 1804-5 and of the fourth general assembly in
1805-6, and in the latter was speaker. He was the member from Jefferson
County, which had been established by Governor St. Clair, July 27, 1797. He
i was again chosen representative to serve in the seventh, eighth and ninth
I legislatures, and was a member of the senate in the tenth and eleventh legis-
| latures. In 1800 he served as associate judge of Jefferson County and in
I 1810-11 also filled that office. As presidential elector in 1804 he supported
Thomas Jefferson and in 1812 James Madison. In 1808 he was nominated for
judge of the supreme court of Ohio to succeed Return Jonathan Meigs, re-
signed. Thus the ancestors of Mrs. Ryder were closely associated with the
! history of the state in its formative period.

Mrs. Ryder pursued her education in the public schools of Akron and
then attended Buchtel College of that city, and on the 8th of May, 1906, in
Akron, she became the wife of Parmly H. Ryder. The year 1910 witnessed
the establshiment of their home in Bucyrus, where they since resided. They
have two children. The daughter, Mrs. Wayne Watters, is the wife of the
head of the department of speech in the high school at Ravenna, Ohio. The

I

710

WOMEN OF OHIO

son, Charles, an Ohio State University student, is now connected with the j
Ryder Brass Foundry.

Since 1919 Mrs. Ryder has been a factor in the successful direction of
the business, having in that year taken over the office management of the j
enterprise which her husband had established on their removal to Bucyrus
and of which he is president. Theirs is a well equipped plant devoted to the
manufacture of bronze bushings and bearings for heavy industry and also |
smokeless oil burners for industrial purposes.

Mrs. Ryder has long enjoyed the high regard of an extensive circle of
warm friends here and has figured prominently in various phases of the
social life of the community. She served as worthy matron of Bucyrus
Chapter of the Eastern Star in 1914 and 1915, belongs to the North Side
Reading Circle, of which she was president in 1913-14 and again in 1920-21,
and is a member of Hannah Crawford Chapter, D. A. R., of which she is
now regent for the term from 1938 to 1940. She belongs to the First Presby- j
terian Church of Bucyrus, is a member of the church guild and was super- j
intendent of the primary department of the Sunday school for several years. \i

MATHILDE ANN SCHMIDT

MATHILDE ANN SCHMIDT is secretary of the Cincinnati Butchers’ j
Supply Company, which has a large manufacturing plant owned by the |
sons and daughters of Charles G. Schmidt, who was the founder of the l
business. He was born in Germany and learned the brewer’s trade in his
native land. When eighteen years of age he crossed the Atlantic and made P
his way direct to Cincinnati, where he worked at his trade and at other
employment that he could get, carefully saving his earnings until his in-
dustry and diligence had brought him sufficient capital to enable him to
engage in business on his own account. He began in a small way the manu-
facture of sausage casings and made a success of the enterprise, so that he 'j
later added butcher’s supplies to his line and still later began the manufacture
of refrigerators. The principal business of the company is now the manu-
facture of packing house machinery and they are accorded a liberal patronage, j
The father continued in active connection therewith until his death, which
occurred November 11, 1930, when he had reached the age of seventy-nine
years.

Mr. Schmidt was united in marriage to Miss Helena Meyer, who died at
the age of sixty-eight years. They had a family of ten children, six daughters
and four sons, of whom five are yet living and are the owners of the business
which their father established and developed. Mr. Schmidt was very prom-
inent and active in the German societies of Cincinnati and was president of
his local Society and also the national president. ; I

Miss Mathilde Schmidt was reared in this city and pursued her edu-
cation in the public schools until she had become a high school pupil. At the

WOMEN OF OHIO

Til

age of sixteen years she entered her father’s office and gained a complete
knowledge of the business in both the executive and manufacturing depart-
ments, and has now been the efficient secretary of the company for several
years. She is much interested in the growth and development of the trade
and endorses all modern and progressive methods to further the business.

Miss Schmidt is a member of the Cincinnati Business and Professional
Women’s Club, of which she formerly served as secretary and also on the
board of directors. She is much interested in vocal music and she greatly
enjoys travel, driving her own car on long trips throughout this country
and Canada, thus gaining the pleasant memories which so enrich and broaden
life.

LAURA M. SCHULZE

LAURA M. SCHULZE, stenographer in the office of the general yard
master of the Norfolk and Western Railway boasts a service record of twenty
continuous years with that company. Miss Schulze has been active in the
Railway Business Women’s Association of Cincinnati, holding various offices
| and was president of the club during the years of 1936 and 1937. Her home is
at 1914 Wyland Ave., Norwood, Ohio. Her hobbies include reading, needle-
work, particularly beautiful quilts and her Pekinese dogs.

MILDRED SHAFFER

MILDRED SHAFFER, of Hamilton, is co-owner with Lena Dalton of
the Hamilton Business College, where is offered a full course of instruction
' in all business lines. Miss Shaffer was born in Cumberland, Maryland, and
i pursued her high school studies there, after which she attended Penn Hall,

| of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. She next enrolled as a student in Goucher
College of Baltimore, Maryland, and later attended the Johns Hopkins Uni-
( versity in the same city. Subsequently she was a student in the Philadelphia
j School of Filing and thus broad and thorough training well qualified her to
1 take up the profession which she has made her life work.

Miss Shaffer began teaching in the Bryant & Stratton Business College
' of Baltimore. Since 1934 she has been connected with the Hamilton Business
! College, for it was in that year that she and Miss Lena Dalton became its
| owners. The school has been in existence for seventy-three years and the
; most modern day methods of business education are today in use, while the
i equipment presents every necessary aid to the student. Under the able
guidance of Miss Shaffer and Miss Dalton steady progress is being made
and they are accorded a liberal patronage.

Miss Shaffer is helpfully interested in the life of the community, has
membership in the Baptist Church, belongs to the Woman’s City Club and
to the Business and Professional Woman’s Club, having been one of the
founders of the latter and its first secretary.

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WOMEN OF OHIO

HARRIET KATHERINE SHARP

HARRIET KATHERINE SHARP, real estate broker of Millersburg, 0.,
was born in that city, the daughter of George and Annetta Sharp. She took
her A.B. at Westminster College and has for 10 years or more been a partner
of the firm of Harriet and Bernice Sharp. She is also administrator of the
Division of Aid for the Aged in Holmes County and appraiser for H.O.L.C.
Miss Sharp has been vice chairman of the State Democratic Central Committee
since 1934 and is secretary-treasurer of the Holmes County Democratic Ex-
ecutive Committee. Her home is on High St., Millersburg, 0.

ADA OZELLA SHAWK

ADA OZELLA SHAWK, wife of Guy E. Shawk, of Mansfield, is
one of the leading dealers in antiques in Ohio, having won a foremost position
by reason of the discriminating taste and precision with which she selects
her stock. Moreover, she is a representative of prominent pioneer families
of the state. She was born on a farm in Richland County, Ohio, a daughter
of George L. Black, also a native of the same county, his forebears having
located here many years ago. His grandfather was the first county treasurer
of Richland County, having settled here in 1804. Their ancestral line is
traced back to William the Conqueror. Many representatives of the family
in this country were school teachers or farmers. The mother of Mrs. Shawk
was in her maidenhood Eugenia Miles, who was directly related to Colonel
Samuel Miles, aide to Washington and one time mayor of Philadelphia.

Mrs. Shawk attended the district schools near her girlhood home, then
pursued a high school course and also attended Ashland College. When
sixteen years of age she began teaching, which profession she followed for
twenty-five years, and was supervisor of public school music in the county
schools.

In 1912 Ada Black became the wife of Guy E. Shawk and they have
one son, Malcolm, who is at home. For years Mrs. Shawk has been very active
in the Parent-Teachers Association of Mansfield, of which she has served as
president. She is also an earnest worker in the Baptist Church and was
president of one of its classes for years. It was in 1918 when the family
came to Mansfield, where Mrs. Shawk has since resided. During the World
War she took a helpful part in the war work, the Red Cross and other
patriotic and philanthropic work and, in fact, throughout her entire life has
ever been ready to respond to a call of duty or of need. She began taking
an active interest in collecting antiques in 1926 and it may well be said that
her collection displays the romance of lighting as seen in both lamps and
lanterns for she possesses lamps more than two thousand years old, one that
was taken from the ruins of Pompeii and others of equal interest and note,
her collection being probably the largest in the country. She also has a most
interesting collection of early furniture and her wide reading and study
along these lines has made her an authority on many antiques.

WOMEN OF OHIO

713

MARTHA SHIMLER

One of the outstanding figures in business and club circles and the reli-
gious and civic activities of Cincinnati is MARTHA SHIMLER, whose influence
and efforts have been widely felt for the benefit of the city and its people.
She is a native daughter of Cincinnati and her parents, John and Sophia
Shimler, were both born in Ohio. Her father spent the latter part of his life
on a farm in Hamilton County and passed away in 1931 at the age of seventy-
three years. Her mother is still living at the age of eighty years and is a
resident of Cincinnati.

Miss Shimler was the eldest of five children, three sons and two daughters
and pursued her education in the public schools, passing through the grades
to the high school. Soon after putting aside her text books she became secre-
tary to Zeptha Sanard and continued to fill that position until his death, when
she became agent to take the place which Mr. Sanard had filled. Her knowl-
edge of business affairs is comprehensive and her judgment keen and reliable
in all transactions with which she has to do. She is also trustee of several
large estates including the Sarah Bella McLean estate and the Lewis and
Jeptha Sanard estates. Miss Shimler has her offices in the Mercantile Library
Building, and she is a member of the Real Estate Board. She has been closely
associated with many progressive measures that have to do with the upbuild-
ing and welfare of the city, is a charter member of the Business and Profes-
sional Women’s Club and has served on some of its more important committees,
and is likewise a charter member of the Cincinnati Women’s Rotary Club.
She has membership connection with the City Women’s Club and with the
Peace League and is an active worker in the Presbyterian church. She enjoys
gardening and owns a nice country home near Cincinnati.

BIRDIE L. SHROPSHIRE

When BIRDIE L. SHROPSHIRE, now assistant manager of the Cincin-
nati office of the Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company, first entered into
the business field, the number of women entrusted by insurance companies
with such responsibility could be counted on the fingers of one hand.

Born in Marshall, Missouri, her parents moved in her infancy to Glendale,
1 California, where she attended the public schools. She continued her education
at the University of California and then took a business course in order to
fully prepare herself for whatever opportunity might offer.

Only Birdie Shropshire did not wait for opportunity. She sought it out
and found it — with a fraternal insurance company of Los Angeles, where
she started as clerical assistant and wound up as office manager.

Five years in this position prepared the alert young business woman for
her next responsible job, which was the office management at Los Angeles
of the company she now serves.

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WOMEN OF OHIO

When, in 1920, it was decided to transfer the highly skilled woman execu-
tive to Cincinnati, Miss Shropshire was quite ready to apply her experience
and training to new territory. She worked as cashier in the Cincinnati offices
of the Pacific Mutual for five years before accepting the position of Assistant
Manager.

It is now 18 years since Miss Shropshire became an adopted daughter of
Ohio. In this time she has won recognition as an executive, thoroughly
grounded in every detail, and thoroughly alive to every opportunity.

For Miss Shropshire, however, business life is more than making a living.
It is a way of living, with interests, ethics, opportunities and obligations com-
mon to groups of women in every community.

So with a large and progressive group of this type, the Cincinnati Busi-
ness and Professional Women’s Club, she soon became identified as an active
member and presently as a director.

Achievements of this club, outstanding throughout the country, have been
due in no small measure to her hearty cooperation in its purposes, plans and
programs.

Miss Shropshire is secretary of the National Sorority Club and is a member
of other national and local organizations devoted to educational, cultural,
political or civic progress.

ALMA LAWTON SIMMONS

A notable example of the attainment of success through ability, worth
and merit is found in the life record of ALMA LAWTON SIMMONS, who at
the early age of ten years was a cash girl and today is owner and manager
of one of the finest mercantile establishments of Cincinnati, conducted by the
Lawton Company as the French Shops. Keen discernment, broad vision and
a laudable ambition have carried her steadily forward, nor will she feel that
she has reached the goal of success while there is opportunity to reach higher
standards of service to the public.

Born in Cincinnati, Mrs. Simmons is a daughter of Austin and Mary A.
(Hoeffer) Lawton, the mother also a native of this city. Her father was born
in Lancastershire, England and was but six years of age when his parents
brought their family to the new world, settling first in Mt. Vernon, Ohio.
In young manhood he came to Cincinnati, where he engaged in business as a
master machinist.

His daughter, Mrs. Simmons, was reared here and attended the public
schools but was only ten years of age when she began working as a cash
girl in a store here. Steadily she won promotion until she was made a member
of the sales force and later was advanced to the position of buyer in the store.
As she became acquainted with business methods and business procedure
there awakened in her the ambition to engage in business on her own account
and in 1915 she began merchandising in the same building in which she had

WOMEN OF OHIO

715

been employed, securing space on the second floor and opening the first
Cincinnati French Shop. Six months later her trade had increased to such
an extent that she was obliged to double her floor space and the third year
she trebled both her office and floor space, increasing her stock at all times
to meet a constantly growing demand. She has paid especial attention to
women’s dresses and coats and the public soon found that she carried a line
of apparel that was thoroughly up-to-date and attractive in every way. In
1921 she took a ninety-nine year lease on the entire building of six floors,
which is known as the Lawton Building and which she uses exclusively. She
began her business with six clerks and today she employs ninety men and
women in the Lawton shops, selling women’s dresses and coats, wearing
apparel and accessories. She shows marked judgment in making her selec-
tions and is at all times actuated by a most progressive spirit.

In January, 1924, Alma Lawton became the wife of Robert C. Simmons,
a practicing attorney of Covington, Kentucky. She is a member of the Rotary
| Club, the Woman’s City Club and the Catholic Woman’s Club and she gives
her political allegiance to the Democratic party. She has a fine country
residence where she lives and her interests have always centered in Cincinnati
j and the business which she has here built up and which is one of the most
creditable factors in the mercantile life of the city.

ALVIRTA WALKER TAYLOR

ALVIRTA WALKER TAYLOR, Columbus business woman, has held the
unique distinction of being the only woman of her race who is an active
I member of the Fashion Art League of America, to which she has belonged
i for the past eighteen years. She has won more than honorary mention in
j this connection, as several times she has demonstrated her ability and skill
before the group and has had many of her models to be copied in the various
fashion magazines.

Madame Taylor conducts the International School of Dress Designing in
j addition to the work of her shop.

During the years of 1929 and 1930, she gave instructions to more than
five hundred women and girls, who wanted to perfect themselves in correct
dress. She also made forty-eight lectures during this same period. They
were given as far east as Connecticut and as far south as Mississippi.

Alvirta Taylor has demonstrated her work on living models before
; various colleges, organizations, and clubs throughout the country. She is a
! graduate of Smith College, the Pratt Institute of Design, and the Madame
I Stevens School of Art. She has been a lecturer on fabrics, design and art.

Despite demands on her time and energy, Alvirta Taylor finds time to
often give instructions free of charge to her less fortunate sisters and does a
large amount of community uplift work among her race.

716

WOMEN OF OHIO

EUGENIA MILLAR THORPE

EUGENIA MILLAR THORPE (Mrs. William H. Thorpe) has achieved
distinction in a unique field, that of organization of Cincinnati’s three
Woman’s Expositions. In 1933 Mrs. Thorpe initiated the first of these exhibi-
tions, all of which were staged at Music Hall and stressed activities of women
in numerous fields. Mrs. Lowell Fletcher Hobart was general chairman of
the first exposition, of which 104 clubs of Greater Cincinnati were sponsors. | y
It attracted country wide interest and inquiries came to Mrs. Thorpe from
everywhere regarding it.

In 1935 she was organizer and executive secretary of the second woman’s ,
exposition, which proved a great success with Mrs. Allan C. Roudebush at
its helm. Modeled on the first event, it was a more elaborate and ambitious \ 1
display and demonstration. This Mrs. Thorpe carried to a successful termina- ,
tion also, through the fine cooperation of the 118 clubs and federations on her
sponsoring board.

The third woman’s exposition was given in 1937 with Mrs. Thorpe again
as organizer and executive. This was the largest and finest of the series.

It was sponsored by 143 clubs and organizations. It not only showed the 1
achievements of women in virtually every field of endeavor, but it also brought
to Cincinnati famous lecturers and personalities, among them Dr. Allan LeRov |
Dafoe, physician to the famous Quins. Mrs. Stanley Lee Clarke was general
chairman. Newspapers and magazines devoted generous space to the affair —
the Christian Science Monitor, for instance, which gave columns of description.

Mrs. Thorpe was able to conduct these major projects largely through ,*
her affiliation with numerous cultural enterprises and organizations. She has
long been active in the Cincinnati Chapter, Daughters of the American Revo- 1
lution and, as a member of the program committee has been chairman from
time to time of many special celebrations and observances. A former presi-
dent of the Cincinnati Literary and Musical Society, she is now an honorary
member. She belongs also to the Colonial Daughters of America and to the ,•
Early American Colonists, as well as the Cincinnati Hobby Club and Woman’s
Club and Phi Delta Theta.

Born in Tuscumbia, northern Alabama, the daughter of the late John
and Emma Stanley Millar, Eugenia Millar came as a young girl with her '
parents to Cincinnati and has lived in that city ever since. She was married
in 1912 to the late William H. Thorpe, a Canadian whose birthplace was Lon-
don, Ontario.

PEARL COHN TROST

PEARL COHN TROST (Mrs. Philip Trost), director of the City Manager
League of Toledo, Ohio and supervisor with the Curtis Publishing Co., was
born in Cincinnati, the daughter of Emil A. and Nannie Cohn. She was married I

EUGENIA M. THORPE
(Mrs. William II.)

Executive Secretary of Cincinnati’s
three Women’s Expositions

WOMEN OF OHIO

719

in 1907 to Philip Trost. Mrs. Trost is president of the Toledo Society for
Crippled Children, civic chairman of the Toledo Woman’s Club and a board
member of the Temple Sisterhood. Her residence is 2258 Hollywood Ave.,
Toledo.

KATIE TURLEY

KATIE TURLEY is an outstanding woman farmer of Ohio. Miss Turley
was born in Findlay in her present home at 202 East Main Cross Street, fifty
years ago, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Leonard J. Turley. She was gradu-
ated from Pennsylvania College for Women in Pittsburgh. Since the death
of her parents in 1911 and 1912 she has been managing farms totaling over
900 acres.

Katie Turley is chairman of the women’s Republican organization in
Findlay and has been a delegate on several occasions to the state convention.
She was the first president of the Findlay Altrusa club and was head of the
Red Cross distribution in Hancock County and Findlay in 1933-34.

NAN WALLACE

Any one familiar with the photographic studios of Toledo knows the
name of NAN WALLACE and is familiar, at least to some extent, with her
work. She is numbered with those who have raised photography to rank with
the fine arts and her own productions have been deemed worthy of exhibit
in various places of the county where conventions are being held that present
the most beautiful and artistic work that has been brought out through photo-
graphic processes. She has conducted her studio in Toledo since 1932 and
each year has chronicled her progress and success.

While conducting her studio under the name of Nan Wallace, in private
life Nan Wallace is the wife of John T. Franz, who is with the Multigraph
& Addressograph Company, with headquarters in Toledo. She is a daughter
of T. A. and Aminta (Boys) Wallace, both natives of West Virginia and their
daughter born in Charleston, that state, where she attended the public schools
until graduated from high school. She next spent a year at the Montgomery
Preparatory School and she also pursued a business course in her native city.
She married R. S. Wallace of Charleston and they had one son, Maurice R.,
who was born in Charleston, who is now in the United States Navy as an
air cadet, located at Grosse Isle, Michigan. He was educated largely in Toledo
and attended the University of Toledo for two years. Her husband, Mr.
Wallace, was a photographer who had a studio in Charleston. West Virginia,
where Nan Wallace secured her first training in photography. She continued
there about six years, but after the death of her husband she went to Ashe-
ville, North Carolina, where she was connected with the Howard studios for
about two years. She next spent a year in Huntington, West Virginia, and

720

WOMEN OF OHIO

then made business connections with Bachrach, Inc., when she opened their
studio in Toledo, remaining with them about two and a half years, when she
became identified with the Whitt Gregg studio, with which she continued
two years. She purchased her present studio in 1932 and has since ranked with
Ohio’s leading photographers. She has won a number of blue ribbons and
‘‘honorable mentions” and her work was exhibited in the national convention
held in Chicago in August, 1937. She also had four photos hung at the con-
vention of 1938 and received a certificate on all four. She already has seven-
teen certificates of merit out of the twenty-five necessary to have the Master’s
degree in photography. She also has two certificates of merit from Indiana
and two from North Carolina. She has delivered a number of public lectures
on photography and has frequently given talks before women’s organizations
and been invited to talk at many of the conventions. Hers is a well merited
fame, which she has attained through the excellence of her art.

MARY WALSH

MARY WALSH, for more than twenty years cashier of the Taft Estate,
Cincinnati, Ohio was born in Waterford, Ireland, educated in the National
Schools and while still in her teens came to the United States and to the city
which ever since has been her home.

Miss Walsh took business courses, perfecting herself in all branches and
soon after was appointed stenographer and cashier in the offices of the late
Charles P. Taft.

Later she became private secretary to Mr. Taft and after his death con-
tinued in this capacity and as cashier of the estate until the death, in 1931,
of Mrs. (Annie Sinton) Taft.

Efficiency with which she handled her responsibilities in connection with
the large estate has won for Miss Walsh an honorable reputation as a busi-
ness woman and an important place in the councils of the Cincinnati Busi-
ness and Professional Woman’s Club of which she is a charter member.

She has been especially active in the Catholic Women’s Club of Cincin-
nati of which she is vice president, also, as representative of the Cincinnati
Federation in the National Council of Catholic Women.

JOSEPHINE LOUISE WABNKE

Through perseverance, close application, determination and recognized
merit, Mrs. Josephine Louise Warnke has reached an enviable position in
manufacturing circles, being now superintendent of the Bucyrus plant of the
Kaynee Company, engaged in the manufacture of boys wear. Her entire
life has been spent in Ohio, first in Cleveland and since 1921 in Bucyrus. She
was born in the former city, November 20, 1881, a daughter of Henry and
Elinore (Brauksik) Lange, both of German lineage. The daughter attended

WOMEN OF OHIO

721

the Cleveland Lutheran parochial school until graduated in 1896 and the
following year she started out in the business world with the firm with which
she is still associated in the capacity of trimmer. Since that time she has
won successive promotions, advancing from one position to another until
today she is shop superintendent and also a stockholder in the company.
From 1918 until 1921 she was personnel director and chief welfare worker
in the Cleveland plant and she also had charge of the dispensary there. She
is familiar with every phase of the business and possesses the keen insight
into business affairs and the executive ability which well qualify her for her
present responsibilities.

In Cleveland, in 1907, Josephine Lange became the wife of Frank E.
Warlike and now has one son, Elmer F. Warnke. Her interest centers in
her housekeeping as well as in business life and she has maintained and
managed her own household ever since her marriage.

Mrs. Warnke gives her political support to the Republican party and
is a member of the local woman’s committee. In her church membership
she is a Lutheran and she belongs to the In-As-Much Circle of the King’s
Daughters, is a member of its board of trustees and at one time served as its
secretary. All these things make the interests and activities of her life well
balanced and have won for her the respect and high regard of the com-
munity in which she has now made her home for eighteen years.

AGNES G. WELLS

AGNES G. WELLS had the distinction of being the first business woman
of Steubenville, 0. She established a florist shop, conducted a thriving business
until the time of her death. Part of her success was due to native aptitude
and business acumen, part to the fact that nobody in miles around was better
known. For Agnes was the daughter of Bezaleel Wells, one of the principal
founders of what is now the important city of Steubenville.

CLARA WESTROPP

CLARA WESTROPP, sister of Judge Lillian Westropp, of Cleveland,
shares with this widely known jurist the main executive responsibility for
running the first Federal Savings and Loan Bank ever conducted by women
in this country.

The Westropp sisters are the leading lights of the Women’s Federal
Savings and Loan Company. Clara Westropp is secretary and treasurer of
the savings organization ; the entire personnel of which is confined to women.
But plenty of men are patrons.

Judge Lillian Westropp is president of the concern, charter for which
was granted in 1921. Recently it was re-organized and granted a Federal
Charter.

722

WOMEN OF OHIO

Clara Westropp, said to be a business woman of rare ability, has for
years devoted her entire time and energy to this bank conducted by women
only. Perhaps that is why it has done so well.

ETHEL MURIAL WOOD

ETHEL MURIAL WOOD, Cleveland insurance executive, was born at
Franklin, Pa., took her A.B. at Alleghany College, her M.A. at the University
of Chicago and did graduate work at the University of Paris. She was for
a time teacher of the East Technical High School at Cleveland and later was
appointed agent and chartered life underwriter of the Equitable Life Insur-
ance Association.

She has been for five years secretary of the Cleveland Chapter of Char-
tered Life Underwriters and has been president of the Cleveland branch,
University of Chicago Club since 1934.

ANNA M. YOUNG

No history of Zanesville would be complete or satisfactory without ex-
tended mention of ANNA M. YOUNG, who has occupied a prominent position
in business circles and who has done much to further those agencies and
projects which have had to do with the city’s advancement along moral,
educational and charitable lines. Moreover she is a representative of one of
Ohio’s pioneer families, being a daughter of Russell H. Twiggs and a great
granddaughter of Andrew Twiggs, who was born in England and in young
manhood crossed the Atlantic, after which he made his way westward to
Marietta, Ohio. In that locality he took up government land on which not a
furrow had been turned or an improvement made. He soon wrought a marked
change in the appearance of the place as he continued the work of farming
until his death and his son, Andrew, Jr., Mrs. Young’s grandfather, con-
tinued ; in addition to tilling the soil he engaged in carpentering and manu-
facturing hand made furniture. His son, Russell H. Twiggs, who was born
on the farm near Marietta, also learned the trades of carpentering and
furniture making. He was Mrs. Young’s father.

It was upon a part of the old family homestead near Marietta that Mrs.
Young was born and she early attended the district and later the public
schools and at the age of eighteen years began teaching. On the 4th of July,
1883, she became the wife of George F. Young, who was also a teacher and
who was born at Lower Salem. His father was a blacksmith. Mrs. Young
and her husband attended the same school. In 1884 they moved to Zanesville,
where she has since made her home. Mr. Young attended business college
and then took up bookkeeping, which he followed for nine years. In 1890
he established the Roseville Pottery, and became a manufacturer of art
pottery. His products soon became widely known and the business steadily
increased under his direction until his death, which occurred May 9th, 1920.

WOMEN OF OHIO

723

Mr. and Mrs. Young had a family of three children: Leota Frances, now
the wife of F. S. Clement ; Ona, who died at the age of twelve months ; and
Russell T., who died at the age of forty-six. At his father’s death he had
taken charge of the Roseville Pottery and had continued in charge until his
health failed him. Mrs. Young then took up the business and continued as
president and general manager until 1937, when she turned the management
over to her son-in-law, F. S. Clement, who is now in charge. Mrs. Young
proved herself a capable business executive, adding to the prestige of the
Roseville Pottery, which is now widely known and its products are sold all
over the country, so that the business is one of the largest and most important
manufacturing enterprises of Zanesville.

While active in business Mrs. Young also found time to continue her
charitable, philanthropic and other work for Zanesville and its people. She
has been a most generous contributor to the Salvation Army and she has
done much in establishing food kitchens for the needy. In memory of her
husband she presented a set of chimes to the Presbyterian Church, in which
she has membership and she has served as assistant treasurer and as president
of the Missionary Society of the church and as chairman of its board of
trustees. Any good work done in the name of charity or religion receives
her liberal assistance and her broad sympathy prompts her to continually
extend a helping hand to the unfortunate. Mrs. Young is active in the
Republican party. She is at present serving as a trustee of the State Archae-
logical and Historical Society under appointment of Governor Davey, her
term expiring February 18, 1941.

In the order of Pythian Sisters Mrs. Young has been especially active,
becoming a member March 15, 1892 and was elected past chief of Beulah
Temple of Zanesville at the institution of the temple. In May of the same
year she was elected Grand Trustee at Columbus when the Grand Temple
convened in that city. In 1893 she was elected Grand Junior, in 1894 Grand
Senior and in 1895 Grand Chief of the Order. Since that time she has held
many positions of honor and trust in the Pythian Sisters and, in 1906, at
the convention in New Orleans was elected to the highest office in the order,
that of Supreme Chief. Throughout the years she has maintained her interest
in the Sisterhood, doing everything possible to further its aims and purposes.

724

WOMEN OF OHIO

WOMEN IN LIBRARY SERVICE

In special recognition of her extraordinary service, this group
of representative Ohio women in library service is led by Miss Linda
Eastman, former librarian of the Cleveland Public Library. Other
names are arranged alphabetically.

LINDA EASTMAN

Realization of good work well done is said to be sufficient recognition
for the real worker. Perhaps it is. But when this realization extends to the
public in general, there is no good reason for assuming that the good worker’s
satisfaction is not thereby definitely increased.

Four times the metropolitan city of Cleveland, 0., has set itself to en-
thusiastically honor LINDA EASTMAN, who in September, 1938, resigned
as head of the Cleveland Public Library.

In April, 1929, the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce awarded Miss East-
man its public service medal. In December of the same year her portrait,
painted by Walter E. Brough, was unveiled at a public dinner for 700
members of the library staff. The portrait hangs in the main library building.
In 1933 a city wide recognition service was held in honor of Miss Eastman
at the Euclid Ave. Baptist Church and in October, 1937, a beautiful grassy
tract where an open air library has been started was officially named the
Linda Eastman Park.

Yet 46 years ago, when Linda Eastman, then a teacher in the Cleveland
public schools, decided to change her occupation, she was earnestly advised
against taking such a chance. Already her work in public education was
recognized as skilled and thorough. Why leave so safe and sane a field?

But, Linda Anne explained, she would not be leaving it, really. School
libraries had begun to be established in Cleveland. Here was a new and, in
Miss Eastman’s opinion, tremendously important development of public edu-
cation. For some time it had challenged her deepest interest. Was not a
librarian an educator in the most definite as well as in the comprehensive
services of the profession?

Without question. Very well. The matter was practically settled. All
that was necessary was to take the first opportunity for appointment — and
start all over again.

Linda Eastman was born at Oberlin and her Master of Arts degree was
a special honor from Oberlin College. But she has earned other imposing
academic dignities. Doctor of Literature, accorded by Mt. Holyoke College;

WOMEN OF OHIO

727

LL.D. for post graduate work at Western Reserve; and various special honors.
Her official qualifications always kept pace with her practical work, especially
in the beginning of her new career, when in the entire Cleveland public
library system there were only 18 employes. When she retired, there were
1,200 individuals in the employ of the great institution — and more than two
million books on its catalogues.

In the beginning the new job required unremitting toil, as well as prac-
tically unlimited patience. In addition Miss Eastman brought to the Cleveland
public library not only the genius which is infinite capacity for taking pains
but also imagination and vision which included wonderful possibilities of
development in their purview. The whole story of her library service is a
record of how these possibilities became achievements.

One of these developments was the inauguration of the open shelf
system. Presently Cleveland had the largest open shelf public library in the
world. Distribution of books to shutins was another development. Girl Scouts
were made the distributors. A “reader’s advisor” department was started.
Adult education work was inaugurated and the children’s department de-
veloped under especially trained librarians.

Success of these and many other services of the Cleveland library brought
professional and special librarians from all over the world to Cleveland, to
confer with the famous woman librarian, to ask her advice.

When she joined the library force in 1892 it was as an assistant in the
west side branch, while taking a library course from the Albany Library
School.

By 1895 her work was already so outstanding that she was appointed
assistant librarian at Dayton, 0. But she soon came back to Cleveland, for
they needed her to take care of the Miles Park Branch. And the very same
year she was appointed vice librarian of the entire Cleveland system.

To list either the professional or non professional organizations of
which she has been an active member would require pages. But there was
always one thing about Linda Eastman, she would not join any organization
in the work of which she was not definitely interested. She is definitely in-
terested in civic, educational, social and welfare work — in archaeology, his-
tory, economics, political science as related definitely to human betterment,
as related, therefore, to human education.

We have found, happily, the inclusive phrase. Of Linda Eastman we
may truthfully say that she was and is actively interested in all that has to
do with human education. To this she has devoted her life, first as teacher,
then as librarian. She has developed, as but few individuals have been able
and privileged to do, the love — and the art — of reading.

Somebody asked Miss Eastman to what, now that she has retired, she
planned to devote her time.

728

WOMEN OF OHIO

A note of surprise sounded in her ready answer. Surely anyone should
know that she’s never had the time she wants for reading. She has dealt
with miles on miles of books, mountains of them.

But now — “I’ll read,” she said.

CLARA ALLEN

CLARA ALLEN, one of eight women who founded the library of Xenia,
0., was a native of that city, where she was born in 1842 and died in 1935.

She was the daughter of the Hon. John B. Allen and of Sarah Nunne-
maker Allen and to her fell the task of managing the extensive Allen property
in and about Xenia, which responsibility she discharged with ability to the
time of her death.

For many years the entire operation and care of the Xenia Library was
dependent on Miss Allen and on her colleagues in this important project.
They were the only librarians, handled all the books, cleaned them, did all
the work.

Organization of another important service, the Home Missionary Society
of the First Methodist Church of Xenia, in 1882, was also due to the interest
and initiative of Clara Allen and of her mother, Mrs. John B. Allen. This
society now bears their name.

Miss Allen was for a time president of the Xenia Woman’s Club. She
had talent for the stage and gave many readings before dramatic groups.

EDITH BAUMGARDNER

EDITH BAUMGARDNER, librarian of the Lancaster, 0., Public Library,
was born in that city, educated there and at the Chautauqua School for Li-
brarians. She is a sponsor of Sigma Phi Gamma, a former director of the
Y. W. C. A. and an active member of the Ohio Library Association and of
the Ohioana Library Association. Her home is at 229 Union St., Lancaster.

ELIZABETH BECHTEL

In 1900 ELIZABETH BECHTEL was engaged to serve for a possible
eight weeks as assistant librarian of the College of Wooster, and has here
since remained, although for twenty-four years of this period she has filled
the higher position of librarian and has made the College Library the splendid
department that it is today and the student body cannot in thought disasso-
ciate her from the institution which she has thus so ably represented.

Born in Wooster, Miss Bechtel is a daughter of D. W. and Rebecca
(Plummer) Bechtel, the latter born in Ohio in 1846 — the opening year of
the Mexican War. The father was born on a farm near Wooster and was a
Civil War veteran. In young manhood he was employed as a salesman in a
dry goods store and later he engaged in merchandising on his own account.
Both passed away many years ago.

WOMEN OF OHIO

729

Reared in her native city, Elizabeth Bechtel attended the Wooster public
schools until graduated from the high school with the class of 1894. She was
then out of school for a year, after which she matriculated in the College
of Wooster in September, 1895, and was graduated magna cum laude in
1899, with the Bachelor of Arts degree. In January, 1900 she entered the
College Library as an assistant to serve for a brief period, but circumstances
and marked fitness and ability for the work have continued her here through
all the passing years. When she became assistant librarian, the library was
comparatively small having only about twenty thousand volumes. There was
no classification of the books and Miss Bechtel, together with Miss Alice
S. Davis, then the librarian, undertook the active work of arranging and
cataloging under the Dewey decimal classification and dictionary cata-
loging. While this work was being done Miss Davis secured a leave of
absence to care for her aged father, Dr. Davis, and she never returned, resign-
ing her position. This left Miss Bechtel with the responsibility of completing
the classification and cataloging of the library — a work which was most
adequately and efficiently done.

When Miss Bechtel entered the library in 1900, there were but three
people on the library staff. Now there are five full time assistants and from
fifteen to twenty student assistants and the number of volumes has been
increased to approximately eighty-two thousand. In 1915 she was made
librarian and has since served in this capacity, her efficiency being attested
by all who have had aught to do with the college through all these years.

Miss Bechtel is a member and has been active in the work of the Presby-
terian Church for many years and is now serving as one of its deaconesses.
For a long period she was treasurer of the Presbyterian Home for Children
of Foreign Missionaries, located in Wooster and she has had long membership
connection with the Thursday Club of Wooster and with the Phi Beta Kappa,
an honorary society. She has been chairman of the Ohioana Library at
Columbus, is a member of the Ohio Library Association and the American
Library Association and has been accorded wide recognition for her efficient
service to the College of Wooster.

SARAH H. BILBY

SARAH H. BILBY is librarian of Bexley, Ohio Public Library and was
previously in charge of the National Library of Commerce, New York and
cataloguer of the Ohio State Library.

She is active in professional organizations, also in the League of Women
Voters. Mrs. Bilby was born at Waterloo, N. Y.

JESSIE L. CAMERON

JESSIE L. CAMERON, research assistant and librarian, department of
lithographic research, University of Cincinnati, was born in Cincinnati and

730

WOMEN OF OHIO

received her A. B., her M. A. and her Ph. D. degrees at the University of
Cincinnati. She particularly distinguished herself in chemistry, winning a
number of notable scholarships. In addition to her membership in leading
organizations devoted to her special field of science, Miss Cameron is active
in the National Rifle Association and has won distinction as an expert marks-
man.

MARY RUDD COCHRAN

MARY RUDD COCHRAN, grand-daughter of Mrs. George N. Allen
(Caroline Mary Rudd) and of Mrs. Jacob Dolson Cox, (Helen Finney) and
sister of Dr. Helen Finney Cochran was born in Cincinnati July 14, 1881.
She graduated from Woodward High School in Cincinnati and from Oberlin
College.

After preliminary training in the Public Library of Cincinnati, she held
various positions in that library system. Miss Cochran then was appointed
librarian and office manager at the Ohio Institute for Public Efficiency in j
Columbus.

She was in charge of the sociology division of the Cleveland Public Library
for eight years, was reference librarian at the University of Cincinnati for
five years and returned to the Public Library of Cincinnati in 1929, to be head
of its reference department.

Next to her library work, Miss Cochran’s main interest has been in club
activities. She has served in many capacities in library associations and has
been president of two Business and Professional Women’s Clubs, first in Cleve-
land, later in Cincinnati.

In her professional relationships as in her contacts with other groups
and individuals, Miss Cochran’s spirit of helpfulness has been as spontaneous
as it is untiring.

This fine trait, which characterized her presidency of the Cleveland
Business and Professional Women’s Club and of the Cincinnati Business and
Professional Women’s Club, has been the more effective because it is uncon-
scious, a natural gift. Thorough education and extensive training have I
developed the fine intellect, also part of her personal heritage from the excel-
lently endowed Ohio men and women of whom she is a descendant.

The contribution of Mary Rudd Cochran to the welfare and progress of
her community and of her state is regarded as all the more valuable because |
it has been expressed in terms of varied interests. It is the more appreciated
in that Miss Cochran is herself the least impressed by any service, great or
small, that she has ever given.

Miss Cochran is a Presbyterian and for many years taught Sunday School
classes. For recreation she likes practical outdoor work on the little farm
she owns, overlooking the Ohio River. She spends her longer vacations as a
traveler. Her home is at 245 Gilman Ave., Cincinnati, Ohio.

WOMEN OF OHIO

73 L

STELLA COIL

During the years that the late STELLA COIL was librarian of Galion
she organized five outstanding study groups — Fortnightly, Progress, Tourist,
Research and Round Table. For this and other fine services to her community
she has often been termed the “Mother of Galion Study Clubs.”

SOPHIE COLLMAN

SOPHIE COLLMAN, former head of the art department of the public
library of Cincinnati, Ohio, recently retired from active service after 35 years
connection with the library, during which time she built up the collections
of art and art literature until they rank among the finest in America.

She is also an expert linguist, translating, throughout her years of work,
much of the material in her collections written in foreign languages. She
has proved herself, in addition, an authority in assisting persons to identify
paintings, early silver and china.

Modestly cloistered in the booklined alcove of her department she for
many years added steadily to the sum total of the culture and learning of her
community.

WILLA D. COTTON

I

WILLA D. COTTON, librarian of the Marietta Public Library, took her
A. B., cum laude at Marietta College, and did graduate work at Oberlin
College. She has been unusually successful in promoting library activities
and organized the institution she now heads. Miss Cotton is a former regent
of Marietta Chapter, D. A. R., is active in the Colonial Dames, the Washington
County Pioneer Society and the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical
Society. When the Ohio State Historical Museum was built at Marietta on
the site of the famous Campus Martius, Miss Cotton was appointed member
of the committee in charge and her historical articles on the mound builders
have been featured in periodicals. Her home is at 306 Fifth St., Marietta, Ohio.

ESTELLA BRACKEN COYLE

ESTELLA BRACKEN COYLE was born at Richmand, Ohio, the daughter
i of Dr. Charles Leslie Coyle, physician at Richmond and later at Galion where
he practiced until his death in 1892. Her mother was Julian Rinehart, daughter
of a Lutheran circuit rider in Ohio. The family moved to Galion in 1865. Miss
Coyle taught music, then took a course in library work in Chautauqua, N. Y.,
and became assistant librarian at Wooster College.

When the Galion library was built, she took over the post of librarian and
served 27 years in that capacity, retiring in 1930. Her death occurred in 1935.

732

WOMEN OF OHIO

Called the “Mother of clubs” in Gallon, she was organized of the Fort-
nightly, Progress, Round Table and Tourist Clubs and was a member of the
Current News Club.

In addition to her club work she was active in work of the Presbyterian
Church.

ANNIE LOUISE CRAIGIE

ANNIE LOUISE CRAIGIE, librarian of Denison University, was born at
Rochester, N. Y., took her A. B. at the University of Rochester, her B. S. at
Simmons College and attended the library schools of the University of Chi-
cago and of Ohio State University. She was formerly assistant librarian
of Brooklyn, N. Y. Public Library, before that librarian of Bishop College,
Fredonia, N. Y., and of the U. S. Veterans Bureau Hospital. She is active in
the American Library Association and in the Ohio Library Association.

ELECTRA COLLINS DOREN

No history of Dayton would be complete without mention of ELECTRA
COLLINS DOREN, for as librarian of the city she enriched and broadened
the lives of her fellow beings to an unusual degree, bringing to them the keen
intellectual joy and appreciation which comes in no other way than through
mental stimulus.

Born in Georgetown, Ohio, December 4, 1861, Miss Doren died in Dayton,
March 4. 1927. Her innate powers and talents had come to a full fruition that
made the world in which she moved brighter and better. While spending
her girlhood in the home of her parents, John Gates and Elizabeth (Bragdon)
Doren, she attended the Dayton public schools and Cooper Seminary and con-
tinued her education under private tutors, in the Library School of Albany,
New York, and by study abroad. From 1879 to 1895 she was assistant librarian,
reference librarian and cataloguer of the Dayton Public Library and librarian
from 1896 to 1905. In the latter year and the following year she was director
of the School of Library Science of Western Reserve University of Cleveland,
Ohio, and again was librarian of the Dayton Public Library from 1913 to
1927. In 1884 she compiled a dictionary catalog of the Dayton Library, which
was published. In 1888 the Library was moved to Cooper Park. From 1891
to 1894 she engaged in planning a woman’s gymnasium and in raising funds
for the project. In 1895 she organized the school library work in Dayton
with Linda A. Eastman and in 1895-6 studied in the State University Library
School at Albany, New York, under Melvil Dewey, father of American library
science and further broadened her knowledge by visiting eastern libraries.
Then came somewhat of a recreational period for she spent 1899 and 1900 in
travel abroad, visiting English and continental libraries and upon her return
American libraries of the western United States.

From 1903 until 1905 Miss Doren was lecturer at the Pittsburgh Carnegie
Library School, and from 1906 until 1913 was in retirement from public life,

WOMEN OF OHIO

733

during which time she built her home “Morningside,” four miles west of
Dayton, also spending six months as acting editor of “Public Libraries.”
From 1913 to 1927 the activities which most largely claimed her attention were
flood rehabilitation ; the completion of two regional branch libraries ; the build-
ing of a regional branch library and the annex to the main building; the
planning of a regional branch library, which was built in 1927 and later was
named the Electra C. Doren branch. Between 1917 and 1924 the library
budget was also increased from sixty-four thousand to two hundred and
twenty-five thousand dollars. In 1925 Miss Doren traveled abroad. She was
one of the organizers and president of the Ohio Library Association; vice
president of the American Library Association ; a member of the American
Library Association executive committee from 1917 to 1920; and a member
of the American Library Association Council, the American Library Institute
and the A. L. A. war camps community service committee. She was also a
frequent contributor to Library Journal and Public Libraries.

In the foregoing is found the brief outline of the life work of Miss Doren,
but back of that is a most interesting story of continuous development and
notable achievement. In 1879 Electra Doren was chosen from her high school
graduating class to serve as assistant librarian of the Dayton Public Library,
which occupied a room over the City Market. The books were kept locked
behind glass doors. On request an attendant unlocked the door, charged the
hook designated and the borrower then took it home. Between that day and
this lies the development in public library service of sixty years. These years
have brought into being the library spirit of personal service, an exact library
science and a host of trained library workers. In this field, Miss Doren sowed,
planted, reaped. When she died in 1927 people said: “The Dayton Public
Library is her monument”. A colleague wrote: “There passed iuto ‘the
other room’ of existence on March 4, 1927, one of the finest and most potent
influences in the development of the best things in library service that the
country has known in the last forty years, Electra Doren of Dayton.”

The beginnings were simple. Young, idealistic, she cared for people, she
loved to read and to write, it was her nature to share, she worked a sixty
hour week with no vacations. She not only unlocked the glass doors at the
library but the treasures within the covers of the books for the persons with-
i out. All her life she went ahead, opening doors for others.

While in her twenties she produced and printed a dictionary catalog, one
of the first four in the United States. Next she engaged in planning a woman’s
j gymnasium and raising funds for the enterprise. In 1896 she was appointed
I librarian. Complete reorganization got under way. Open shelves, the Dewey
system of classification and cataloging, books to the schools, to factories and
; other stations, a training class for assistants (second in the country). Later
came a children’s library, Staff Association, training of pages, library build-

734

WOMEN OF OHIO

ings, branches and annex, a book wagon (first for city service), expansion of
a previous and continuing service given the new name “ adult education”,
advocacy of pensions and certification for librarians, and public support for
the library that was more than tripled in seven years. The Dayton Library
was a laboratory for innovation and experimentation in library methods, '
which have since become commonplace in library practice. With long vision
ahead, but practical wisdom as an administrator for next steps, Miss Doren
accomplished what seemed unattainable, taking Avith her the whole hearted
support of trustees and staff.

Able administrator, true educator within her staff and as first director |
of the School of Library Science of Western Reserve University, pioneer in
the library movement, her influence of raising standards of library service '
and administration can hardly be over-estimated. Recognition came unsought.

For her it was never empty honor but always fresh opportunity for this or i i
that community project or for library planning on a state or national scale. \

Despite the ceaseless flow of ideas and projects emanating from her,
she herself was greater than any of her works. People loved her, were influ-
enced by her, looked to her for counsel and guidance. They found in her
understanding and practical sense, but also they experienced a “lift” refresh- i
ment, the will to go on. Hers was a lifegiving spirit. Ten years after her j
death an unknown market woman said to her sister “She knew what people
were feeling. And you’d know to look at her that she’d share everything she j
had.” In the words of the Dayton Library staff “She was at once beloved j
chief, guide, adviser and understanding friend. We were her partners in
every enterprise.” A rich nature was hers — all windows wide open to life.

A deep religious faith and sense of vocation, an artist’s sense of proportion
and fitness, warm human love, gay comaraderie and spicy repartee, a writer’s
insights and discrimination, imagination unfettered but trustworthy, these j
and everything else that was hers made her a great librarian, a help in advanc- j
ing the world in Avhich she lived.

NELLIE E. DUNLAP

For five years NELLIE E. DUNLAP has been associated with Wilberforce
College as its librarian, bringing to this position the knowledge gained from !
experience and thorough training. A native of Paducah, Kentucky, she was
but a child when her parents removed Avith the family to East St. Louis,
Illinois, Avhere she entered school, passing through consecutive grades to
the high school. Following the completion of her course there she enrolled
as a student in Wilberforce College, at Xenia, Ohio, in 1918 and later began
teaching in this institution. In 1927 she attended Ohio State University, after
which she went to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where she filled the posi- j
tion of librarian in the Teachers College, remaining there for nine years. In i

WOMEN OF OHIO

the meantime she attended the University of Michigan, where she won her
Master’s degree in library science in 1932, her training there fitting her for
advanced work in her chosen field. In 1934 she returned to her alma mater
as librarian and has since been connected with this institution, which is most
pleasantly situated about three miles from Xenia and which has always upheld
high educational standards. Miss Dunlap is rendering a most efficient service
to the college as librarian, making it her purpose to assist the students in
every possible way in her particular field and in her work she uses the most
advanced and modern methods of library service.

MARILLA A. FREEMAN

MARILLA A. FREEMAN, librarian of the main building, Cleveland
Public Library, has a most unusual record for skilled service in a number
of leading cities as well as for natural aptitude and fine training for her
profession.

She was born at Honeoye Falls, N. Y., the daughter of Samuel and
I Sarah Allen Freeman and received her Ph. B. at the University of Chicago.

After Miss Freeman’s graduation from the University of Chicago, she
took a course of training at the New York State Library School. For the
next two years she was a reference librarian at the great Newberry Library
in Chicago.

During the years that followed before coming to Cleveland in 1922,

| Miss Freeman organized the public libraries of Michigan City, Indiana, and
I Davenport, Iowa, was reference librarian in Louisville Kentucky, and Newark,
j New Jersey, and librarian of the Goodwyn Library of Memphis, Tennessee.

I While in Memphis she, incidentally, studied law, and was admitted to the
I state bar, and left that city reluctantly to take charge for a year of the
foreign law department of Harvard Law Library — a very unusual position to
I be filled by a woman.

“Librarianship is an interesting profession for women,” says Miss Free-
| man, “one that demands creative ability and offers enormous possibilities,
i The old time librarian is gone and in her place appears the modern farsighted
young woman with the capacity of combining the inspirational with the
practical in meeting all types of human situations and scholarly interests.
Her job is in one sense a form of social service work — an opportunity of
bringing knowledge and happiness to many people through the plastic medium
t of books. She must possess vision and insight combined with executive
ability and a thoroughly trained mind.”

Though she will not own to wielding the poet’s pen herself, Miss Free-
man is a member of the Poetry Society of America, with a rare gift of in-
terpretation, and has given many charming talks in Cleveland and neighbor-
: ng cities on contemporary poets and poetry. She has a wide acquaintance
imong writers of the day.

i

736

WOMEN OF OHIO

Miss Freeman is a member of the Women’s City Club, the Novel Club, j
the University of Chicago Club and the Adult Education Association. She j
is a member of the American Library Association committee on the proposed
distribution of educational films through libraries.

MARY FROST

MARY FROST, first librarian of the Mechanics Institute where was j
established the first library of Lebanon, Ohio, and her sister LIDA FROST, |
second librarian of the present Carnegie Library, were descended from a
pioneer family of that community.

Jennie Unglesby was first in charge of the Lebanon Carnegie Library ; I
Julia Sellers was third in succession and Eva Lewis fourth.

MARY H. GILLHAM

MARY M. GILLHAM (Mrs. Richard E. Gillham), librarian and teacher
of library administration at the University of Toledo, took her A.B. and M.A.
at that university and a special course in library training at the University
of Michigan. In 1922 she was married to Richard E. Gillham, publicity
director. She is an active member of the American Library Association, and
the Ohio Library Association. Her home is at 2801 W. Bancroft St., Toledo.

ELEANOR EDWARDS LEDBETTER

ELEANOR EDWARDS LEDBETTER, librarian of the Broadway Branch, i
Cleveland Public Library, is regarded as one of the best of present day
authorities on Czechoslovakian residents of Ohio and of the country generally
Jugoslovic and Polish immigrants, their background and their literature. 1
Her special interest and intensive studies in this field were outgrowth of
extensive work in Americanization and as special investigator of conditions
in various foreign born population centers of Cleveland.

Mrs. Ledbetter was born in Holley, N. Y., attended the Brookport, N. Y.
State Normal School, Syracuse University and the New York State Library
School. She is a past president of the Cleveland Society for promotion of ;
Slavonic Studies and was awarded the Gold Medal of the White Lion by the I
Republic of Czechoslavokia for interpreting Czech culture and work to
Americans. The widely known Cleveland librarian is author of articles
featured by leading national magazines, of several books on the Slovaks..
Poles and Czechs of Cleveland and has translated a number of classics of
these literatures into English.

ELIZABETH STOKES LEWIS

ELIZABETH STOKES LEWIS (Mrs. Benjamin Lewis), librarian, of
Lebanon, Ohio, Public Library was born in Warren County — the daughter
of Walter S. and Martha Benham Stokes.

WOMEN OF OHIO

737

She attended the county schools and began her music education at the
age of four years under the direction of her father, a pianist and violinist.

Later she continued her study of piano with private teachers in Cincinnati.
In 1890 Elizabeth Stokes was married to Benjamin Lewis, teacher of violin
and brass instruments at Middletown, Ohio, where they made their home.

Mr. Lewis was leader of the orchestra of Sorg’s Opera house — also
leader of a band of which Frank Simons was a member. Later the family
moved to Lebanon, Ohio, where Mr. Lewis was leader of several bands.

Mrs. Lewis was the accompanist of the Lewis Orchestra and played for
every occasion.

She was also a member of the St. Cecilian Club of Lebanon composed
of prominent Lebanon women. Among these were Mrs. Dyche ; Mrs. Lucy
McBurney Coryell (whose father was Lieutenant Governor of Ohio) ; Mrs.
Dr. Hough — a noted piano teacher and Mrs. Ladora Scoville Owens, whose
sister Blanche was a noted singer. The club was a member of the Federation
of Women's Clubs of Ohio.

Mrs. Lewis began her library work as a substitute at the Lebanon Public
Library in 1928. She was appointed librarian the same year and has been in
service ever since. Mrs. Lewis continued her home in Lebanon after the
death of her husband which took place in 1935.

JOSEPHINE LYTLE

JOSEPHINE LYTLE, librarian of Warren Public Library since October
1919, has ever been active in church and civic affairs in the community. She
was born at Pittsburgh, Pa., and attended the schools in that city. She com-
pleted her high school work in Pittsburgh and took her library training and
experience in the Pittsburgh Carnegie Library, where she was a member of
the library staff for four years.

Coming to Warren in 1912, Miss Lytle began work in the Warren Public
1 Library. She was later graduated from the Chautauqua School for librarians.

! She is a member of the Warren First Presbyterian Church, trustee of the
I Warren Y. W. C. A., is a member of Warren Community Forum, Social Study,

I Every Other Week and Warren Garden Club.

MARY EWING MARTIN

MARY EWING MARTIN is a grand-daughter of Thomas Ewing, the
first graduate of Ohio University, and a daughter of Thomas Ewing, Jr., one
of the founders of the state of Kansas, and an officer of the Northern army
during the Civil War. She is a niece of the late Ellen Ewing Sherman, wife
of the distinguished general.

But it is not because of her connection with an illustrious family that
Mrs. Martin deserves a place among the great women of Ohio. It is because
she founded almost single handed and alone the first library in Perry County.

738

WOMEN OF OHIO

The library was founded at New Straitsville some forty years ago. At
that time public libraries were not looked upon with great favor, especially
in a community that had so large a foreign population as had New Straitsville.

“A waste of time and money/’ people said. But nothing daunted Mrs.
Martin. Her husband had donated the building for the library and she herself
was determined to get the books. Arrayed in “ shamefully short skirts” and
high boots, Mrs. Martin plodded through the town and countryside seeking
donations and the co-operation of the better class of citizens for her library.
And in spite of all opposition, she got it.

When it opened, she herself offered to be librarian, an office which she
maintained without pay or profit, for some years. Only recently has she given
up actual work at the library, but she still takes an active interest in every-
thing that goes on there.

ALICE McLEAN

The late ALICE McLEAN and the Cincinnati Mercantile Library, which
she served for 44 years, came into being the very same year — 1835.

Miss McLean went to work as assistant librarian of the famous Cincinnati
library — oldest of its type in the country, except the New York Mercantile —
during Civil War days when she and all other women wore hoop skirts. She
was born in Ireland, came to the U. S. with her parents and lived for a
time in Covington, Ky. before moving to College Hill, then a suburb, now a
part of Cincinnati.

Alice McLean said herself — in her letter of resignation to the library
board at the end of her near half century of service — that she had worked
there so long the library seemed part of herself.

For five of her 44 years on the library staff, Miss McLean filled the
position of librarian-in-chief. There was so much work to do that she took
it home with her as did, it seems, MISS CAROLINE RIGGS GAITHER, j
also an assistant at the Cincinnati Mercantile.

Miss Gaither’s period of service almost equals that of her colleague
She started at the library in 1871 and resigned in 1911 — 40 years.

Caroline Gaither was born in Cincinnati, the daughter of John Gibson
Gaither, of Baltimore, Md., and Mary Ann Hinkle Gaither, born in Phila-
delphia. She is 90 years old at the present writing and remembers many j
interesting incidents in the history of the library, for one thing the world
famous ten thousand year lease.

This lease was negotiated in 1849 and stands as is, therefor, until A. D.
11,849. And even after that it’s renewable — “Forever” — that is the word
used by the late Alphonso Taft — who later became U. S. Secretary of War, j
Attorney General of the United States, and Minister to Austria-Hungary and
Russia — in drawing up the lease on January 1, 1849. A cash payment of
$10,000 secured for the Young Men’s Mercantile Library Association of If ;

WOMEN OF OHIO

739

Cincinnati, “in Perpetuity”, as handsome a suite of library office and read-
ing rooms as was, or in many respects is, to be found west of the Alleghenies.

The fact that today the more than 1000 members of the Cincinnati Mer-
cantile Library, women as well as men, can feel so easy about a roof over
their heads, connects up definitely with the nature of the young Cincinnatians
— 45 of them — who, on April 18, 1835, met on the second floor of the engine
house which then decorated the north side of East Fourth Street, and decided
that the time had come for them to start a library “in order to facilitate
mutual intercourse, to extend information on mercantile and other subjects of
general utility, promote a spirit of useful inquiry and qualify ourselves to
discharge with dignity the duties of our profession — or pursuits”.

The library was located first in the second story of a building belonging
to Dan Ames, on Main Street, below Pearl. Then it moved to Ross and Geyer’s
| Cabinet Shop, Fourth Street, East of Main. In 1849 the Library moved to its
present site, east side of Walnut Street, between Fourth and Fifth, where
j then stood the Old Cincinnati College Building. It was a fine brick building,
but this did not keep it from being destroyed in 1845, by fire.

Now we come to the idealism, energy and general go-get-it-ness of the
library membership. Trustees of the Cincinnati College could not rebuild
without aid. The young men of the Library passed the hat, gently but firmly,
among their membership, netting $10,000. This not untidy sum was paid to
the College Trustees, devoted to construction of a new building, and in return
— and through the able assistance of Alphonso Taft, father of William Howard
Taft, a lease for its suite was granted to the Library for the heretofore men-
j tioned 10,000 years. So good was this lease that when the building burned
again in 1869, it still held during the life of a third building, and when the
present handsome 12 story building was erected, in 1902, the lease was as good
as ever — or better. It gave the Mercantile Library Association — the “Young
i Men” prefix has long been dropped — the entire eleventh floor of the spacious
| structure and part of the floor above.

Part played by the Library in the growth, cultural, educational, indus-
trial and recreational life of Cincinnati regarded as worthy of setting aside
April 2, 1935 as “Mercantile Library Day” for the entire city.

Much of the success of the occasion was due to the enthusiastic direction
j of the present librarian, NATALIE B. DOHRMANN (Mrs. Theodore Dohr-
I mann) and the two other women members of the staff VIOLET GEST WIL-
J LIAMS and ISABELLE K. ACKERMAN.

SARA EDNA MILLER

SARA EDNA MILLER, librarian of East Cleveland Public Library, was
born at Greenwich, N. Y., the daughter of George and Adeline Miller. She
I took her A.B. at Syracuse University and completed her professional training

740

WOMEN OF OHIO

at Syracuse University Library School. Miss Miller was previously on the
staff of the New York Public Library. Her home is at 1828 Windermere St.,
East Cleveland.

MARGARET VAN BERGEN MOULTON

MARGARET VAN BERGEN MOULTON (Mrs. Frank W. Moulton),
librarian of the Portsmouth, 0., Public Library, was born at Beaver Dam,
Wis., the daughter of Frederick and Anne Van Bergen. She was graduated
from the University of Michigan and in 1922 was married to Frank W.
Moulton, attorney.

Mrs. Moulton was formerly a member of the teaching staff of the Min-
neapolis Public Schools and of the schools at Bruce, Wis. Her home is at
1908 Hutchins Ave., Portsmouth.

MARY M. POST

MARY M. POST, assistant librarian of the Canton Public Library re-
ceived her A.B. at Wooster and receive the degree of B.S. at the School of
Library Science, Western Reserve University. She is a former president of
the International Relations Association, is active in the Creative Writers
Club and is author of many critical essays and book reviews.

EFFIE LOUISE POWER

EFFIE LOUISE POWER, director of the Children’s Department, Cleve-
land Public Library, is a graduate of the Carnegie Library School at Pitts-
burgh and received the honorary degree of M.A. from Alleghany College.

She was formerly an instructor at the Cleveland Normal School, super-
visor of work with children of the St. Louis Public Library, is a member of
the summer faculty of University of Missouri, University of Illinois, University
of Oregon, University of Minnesota, Western Reserve University, Columbia
University and a special lecturer for the University of Pittsburgh and the
University of Chicago extension courses.

She is the editor of many stories and programs for children and of
authoritative articles and pamphlets on library subjects.

LOUISE PROUTY

LOUISE PROUTY, vice librarian of the Cleveland Public Library, was
born at Spencer, Mass., the daughter of William Henry and Marie Louise
Prouty. She took her A.B. at Wellesley College and is an active member of
Wellesley Alumnae Association. Miss Prouty has been a member of the
executive board of the American Library Association since 1934 and is among
the notable workers of this important association. She was among Wellesley
graduates who served abroad during the World War and has belonged to
the Women’s Overseas League since its organization.

WOMEN OF OHIO

741

PAULINE REICH

PAULINE REICH, librarian of Cleveland Heights Public Library, was
born in Brooklyn, N. Y. and completed her professional education at the
Cleveland Library School. She was previously a staff member of the New
York Public Library and is a former president of the Western Reserve
Library School Alumnae Association.

Miss Reich is an active member of the Cleveland Heights Educational
Foundation, of the Cleveland Woman’s City Club and of other civic and
professional organizations. She lives at 3602 Washington Boulevard, Cleve-
land Heights.

MILDRED WILLIAMSON SANDOE

MILDRED WILLIAMSON SANDOE, librarian of the Mansfield Public
Library, was born in Cincinnati, the daughter of Jacob and Louise Sandoe,
and took her B.S. at Simmons College. Her previous positions included the
children’s department, Savannah, Ga., Public Library, the Grandview, 0.,
Public Library and the Greene County District Public Library. She is a
! member of the American Librarians Association and of the Ohio Librarians
I Association. Her home is at 564 E. Township Circle, Mansfield, 0.

KITTY SHERWOOD

KITTY SHERWOOD, of Cincinnati, Ohio, former member of the staff
of the Cincinnati Public Library, served in this capacity for a period of
sixty-four years, a record among the employees of the Library for length
I of service.

Beginning her work when Lafcadio Hearn, the writer, was the secretary
| to the chief librarian, as member of the circulation department until the time
1 of her retirement, she was helpful to thousands of the patrons of the library,
j who came to know her and to depend on her efficient and willing aid.

LAURA SMITH

To LAURA SMITH, of Terrace Park, 0., now retired, the Public Library
of Cincinnati is said to owe, more than to any other person, its high standards.

Miss Smith was head of the catalog and reference departments. She
I directed the training classes. She inspired young women with her own ideals
| of scholarship, industry, broad vision, accuracy and pride in good work-
i manship.

Widely known to the library profession throughout the country, Laura
Smith was an active member of the National Library Association and is an
ex-president of the Ohio Library Association.

Her family has been closely identified with educational and cultural
development and her father the late Richard Smith, was one of the best
known newspaper editors of the Middle West.

742

WOMEN OF OHIO

DOROTHY IRENE STROUSE

DOROTHY IRENE STROUSE, librarian of Lucas County Library,
Maumee, 0., was born at Worthington, Ind., the daughter of James Edward
and Jennie Strouse. She was educated at DePauw University, Indiana Uni-
versity and the School of Library Science, Western Reserve University. Miss
Strouse was formerly librarian of the Worthington, Ind., Public Library.
Her home is at Maumee, 0.

ROSE VORMELKER

ROSE VORMELKER, director of the business information bureau of
the Cleveland Public Library, was born at Cleveland, the daughter of Julius
and Amy Hippier Vormelker.

She attended Oberlin College, the Detroit Conservatory of Music and was
graduated from the School of Library Science of Western Reserve University.
Miss Vormelker was formerly associated with the technical department of
the Detroit, Mich., Public Library and was research librarian of the White
Motor Co. She is an ex-officer of the Special Librarians Association and a
member of the American Statistical Association.

EDITH WIRT

EDITH WIRT, head of the Foreign Literature Division, Cleveland Public
Library, attended the Western Reserve University School of Library Science
in 1917. She received her B. S. from Western Reserve University in 1918.

Her work is in a community where the foreign-born and the children of
the foreign-born are strong in numbers and influence. This work has as its
object the “inter-nationalization” of all library readers, American and foreign-
born, to the enrichment of American literature and life, rather than simply
the “Americanization” of the foreign-born.

In good foreign book collections are to be found many ingredients needed
for fostering better citizenship among the foreign-born, for teaching their
children to honor the rich heritage of their fathers and for serving as a
leaven to American civilization.

To this task, Miss Wirt has devoted unusual ability and unflagging energy.

She is an active member of the American Library Association ; the Ohio
Library Association and of important civic and educational organizations.
Her home is at 2950 East 132nd St., Cleveland, Ohio.

LILLIE WULFEKOETTER

LILLIE WULFEKOETTER, superintendent of branch and extension
libraries of the Public Library of Cincinnati, has won recognition as an auth-
ority in her field and is frequently called on for expert services. She was

WOMEN OF OHIO

743

born in Cincinnati, graduated with A. B. degree from the University and
has served as secretary, as treasurer, as president and as member of the
executive board of the Ohio Library Association. She is also an active member
of the American Association of University Women, of the League of Women
Voters, Foreign Policy Association and other organizations.

Other women giving skilled service to Ohio libraries include :

Miriam Rothenberg — Assistant, Reference Department, Public Library
of Cincinnati.

Josephine B. Brown — Assistant, Reference Department, Warren.

Ruth Sonnenstine — Reference Librarian, Ashland.

Mildred Fowler — Librarian, Scienceville High School, Youngstown.

Nellie M. Luehrs — Head of Literature, Cleveland Public Library, Cleve-
land.

Mary L. Wilbur — Head of Education Department, Cleveland Public Li-
brary, Cleveland.

Helen C. Nill — Assistant, Massillon Public Library, Massilon.

Gladys K. Smith — Head of Adult Department, Lakewood Public Library,
Lakewood.

Mrs. Wm. E. Duff — Ohio Historical Society, Ashland.

Alice R. Dadden — Librarian, Salem.

Ruth Leighley — Reference Department, Mansfield Public Library, Mans-
field.

Ethel J. McDowell — Librarian, Ashtabula.

Gladys P. Whittatch — Ohio State Library, Columbus.

Mrs. N. Dunlap — Member State Library Board, Hillsboro.

Alma Huggins — Carnegie Library, Steubenville.

ALICE BOARDMAN

Special recognition is due to the unusually fine service given by two Ohio
librarians, ALICE BOARDMAN, formerly head of the Ohio State Library at
Columbus, and ALICE S. TYLER, director for years of the library school of
the Western Reserve University.

Miss Boardman was active in the formative years of the Ohio Library
Association and did much to formulate its purposes and to bring about its
aims.

Miss Tyler did much to develop the Western Reserve Library School
and to build the entire service on a higher and a broader foundation. She was
president of The American Library Association and cooperated in the work
of many civic and educational organizations.

“FIRING OLD 999”

Donna J . Darkness , Secretary to Publicity Manager ,
C. C. C. & St. L. Bailway, Cincinnati

WOMEN OF OHIO

745

WOMEN RAILROADERS

By DONNA J. HARKNESS
New York Central System

Railway men have a saying “once a railroader, always a rail-
roader.” The same holds true for women employees. In Ohio there
are hundreds of women employed by railroads in various capacities.
Although by no means all of them hold high official positions, we be-
lieve that each and every woman rail employee does know real respon-
sibility and that even those in minor positions find their work colorful,
interesting and worthy of their best efforts and loyalty. This is attested
by the fact that seldom does a woman in railroad work quit her job
for one with another industry. She works for promotion. She likes the
responsibility that attends the work in many departments, the oppor-
tunity for travel that comes with pass privileges, the contacts with
railworkers and the public. She likes the railroad and she likes her
fellow workers. She has entered with unusual zest the various organ-
izations which provide opportunity for discussion of general interests
and opportunities.

She appreciates that if she works until she is of retirement age she
will have a pension the rest of her life. Many railroads have maintained
pension systems for years. Today all railroads operate under the
Railroad Retirement Act and employees with required length of service
retire at sixty-five with pension for life.

There are a number of Railway Business Women’s Associations
in the Middle West, two of which are in Ohio. These are in Cleveland
and in Cincinnati and have a combined membership of about three
hundred women. Interests similar to those of other women’s clubs
are also sponsored, entertainments, bridge parties, charitable work,
annual banquets, etc.

Many railway women belong to booster clubs, veterans’ associa-
tions, transportation groups and to the Association of Railway Maga-
zine Editors, as well as to local women’s clubs, reflecting interests that
are wide and varied.

746

WOMEN OF OHIO

The railroad worker is in a great world of his or her own. There
are a million employees in the United States, with practically every
class of worker from laborers to presidents, including lawyers, en-
gineers, artists, technicians, coal and lumber experts and of course,
executives of every degree. From the cinder pit to the president’s
office — variety, excitement, responsibility, work — and women doing
their share of a big job.

As in any great industry, that has extended over a period of
years, we railroaders have experienced good and bad times. There
have been troublous days of labor difficulties, there has been adversity
and there has been prosperity. So, too, there has been great progress
mechanically, scientifically and in the building for safety and speed,
and for the welfare of both patrons and employees.

Men and women of the rails can relate experiences as thrilling as i
found in any cross section of America, Like the famous saga of “ Casey
Jones,” there are other railroad tales that may well be considered a
part of American folklore.

We feel sure there are many women working for railroads in
Ohio whose stories would be interesting. We hope the few we have been
able to obtain may add just a bit of color to the notable collection in I
Women of Ohio in which all railroad women will feel proud to be
represented. Much credit to Miss Margaret Talbott Stevens, associate
editor of the Baltimore and Ohio Magazine, for instance, in gathering i
this material.

The following women have served the Cleveland Railway Business

Women’s Association as president:

Mrs. Frances White Wells, New York Central R. R 1926-27

Mrs. Marie McAlleenan Kelley, Boston and Maine R. R 1928

Mrs. Mary M. Dibble, Chicago Great Western R. R 1929-30

Mrs. Meta M. Koncana, New York Central System 1931-32

Helen Howard, New York Central System 1933-34

Florence Haas, Erie Railroad 1935-36

Mae E. Hayes, Great Lakes Regional Advisory Board 1937-38

Presidents of the R. B. W. A. of Cincinnati have been :

Clara B. Kelly, Baltimore and Ohio R. R 1928

Donna J. Harkness, C. C. C. & St. L. Ry 1929-30

WOMEN OF OHIO

747

Marie Minshall, Southern Railway 1931-32

Edith Evans, Baltimore and Ohio R. R 1933-34

Marcella McNally, Southern Railway 1935

Laura Schulze, Norfolk and Western Railway 1936-37

Nellie Corcoran, New York Central System 1938

MARIE K. BROWN

MARIE K. BROWN, manager of the women’s department of the Balti-
more and Ohio and Alton Railroads, was born in Middletown, Ohio April 23,
1888, the daughter of Charles A. and Louisa Sebald Keller.

Marie started lecturing for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1923 and
has been working ever since for the Baltimore and Ohio and the Alton Rail-
roads as manager of the Women’s Department and Travel Service.

Mrs. Brown is the wife of William Gary Brown, passenger traffic man-
ager of the same railroads. They have two children. They have also three
grand-children and this was the real inspiration and motivation of the now
widely known National Grandmothers Clubs, Inc.

At a convention of Illinois Business and Professional Women held in 1938,
Mrs. Brown, in giving a talk before a group, mentioned the fact that she is a
grandmother, and added, “I wonder how many in my audience are grand-
mothers.” There was a grand showing of hands.

“Well then,” said Mrs. Brown, “let’s get together and have a grand-
mother’s breakfast tomorrow morning.” And just for the fun of it, Mrs.
Brown stayed up nearly all night to make “grandmothers’ caps” so that each
grandmother might have one to wear at the breakfast.

That’s the way it all started. They decided to form a club. Mrs. Brown
was made president. The club spread. And since then, Mrs. Brown in her
trips to Washington and in her lecture tours elsewhere, welcomes new grand-
mothers as members of the organization.

In addition to the Grandmothers organization, Mrs. Brown is a member
of the International Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs,
the Alliance of Business and Professional Women’s Club of Chicago, an affili-
ated club of the National Federation of Business and Professional Women’s
dubs, Chicago Society of Ohio Women, an affiliated club of the General Fed-
eration of Women’s Clubs, the Zonta Club, Women’s Advertising Club of
Chicago, Central Eleanor Club, League of Women Voters and Illinois Council
of Professional and Business Women.

NELLIE CORCORAN

NELLIE CORCORAN, president of the Railway Business Women's Asso-
ciation of Cincinnati, was born in that city and has lived there all her life.

748

WOMEN OF OHIO

Her first position was as telephone information clerk at the Central Union
Depot. When the ticket offices were consolidated in 1918 she went with them
in a similar capacity. A few months later she took a position in the same
office as diagram clerk. In 1924 she entered the general passenger depart-
ment of the N. Y. C. System ; again as a diagram clerk, which position she
held until 1938 when she was promoted to the city ticket office, in charge of
the reservation department.

Miss Corcoran is said to be excellently adapted to her work, which re-
quires constant contact with the public, handling innumerable reservations for
parties and individuals.

She is a member of the Catholic Women’s Club; of the Daughters of
Isabella and is president of the R. B. W. A. of Cincinnati. She inaugurated a
‘‘sewing circle” of the R. B. W. A., which group meets once a month. Like
other railroad people, Miss Corcoran enjoys travel and has taken numerous
interesting trips.

MARY M. DIBBLE

MARY M. DIBBLE, former president of the Cleveland Railway Business
Women’s Association, is chief clerk of the Chicago Great Western Railroad.
She is still very active in the club.

KATHRYN DICKS

“Woman with a thousand jobs” is the unofficial title bestowed a number
of years ago on KATHRYN DICKS of Buckland, Ohio.

Here are some of them, as listed in the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
Magazine.

Station agent, express agent, Western Union manager, baggage master,
ticket seller, crossing watchwoman, inspector, car checker and switch thrower.

Leisure time presents, it is obvious, no problems to Kathryn Dicks. For
more than 30 years, it is said, Mrs. Dicks has not lost a day or taken a vacation.

Even so, the many jobs of Kathryn Dicks has not prevented her from a
number of services on the side. For one thing, she has taught telegraphy to
a number of young men and young women. As a result, some of those she
thus aided now have responsible jobs of their own.

EDITH E. EVANS

EDITH E. EVANS, former president of the Cincinnati Railway Business
Women’s Association, was born in that city. She has been with the Baltimore
and Ohio for over 20 years, first as secretary to Herbert S. Harr, assistant
general solicitor and at present as secretary to Frank H. Cole, Jr., commerce
attorney.

WOMEN OF OHIO

749

Edith Evans belongs to Violet Chapter, Eastern Star, and has been a
member of Delta Theta Tau Fraternity since 1926 ; was president of local
chapter, Alpha Tan, two years, 1932-1934; served on National Philanthropic
Committee for two years, then was National Philanthropic Secretary in charge
of national project, Delta Theta Tau Community School, at Brinkley, Ky., for
two years, 1935-1937. She was president of the Cincinnati Railway Business
Women’s Association 1933-1934.

ELLEN LISHAWA FERRY

ELLEN LISHAWA FERRY, formerly chief clerk in the office of chief
engineer of the old Cincinnati Hamilton and Dayton Railroad, has had a
career marked by activities as varied as they are interesting.

She was the first woman given so responsible a position by the C. H. & D.
at a time when comparatively few women even considered business careers.
Nell Lishawa, in her early youth, had never thought of such a thing.

But in 1897 she was widowed with a little daughter to support. Things
were different. So she took clerical courses, summoned all her courage, applied
to the railroad officials for a job — and got it.

At first there were months of substituting in various offices of the com-
pany but finally her competency made its way and Nell Ferry became a chief
clerk.

After seven years of service Mrs. Ferry left the railroad for newspaper
work on the Cincinnati Enquirer. In recent years she has devoted her working
time to expert clerical service and public stenography.

VIRGINIA GOSNEY

VIRGINIA GOSNEY, chief telephone operator of the Cincinnati Union
Terminal was born in Wyoming, Ohio, and was employed as telephone oper-
ator at the City Hall, Cincinnati.

Here Virginia became acquainted with city and county officials, with
innumerable business and business executives. In 1909 she went to work
as an operator for the Central Union Depot, then located at Third and
Smith Sts., in 1917 she was appointed information clerk.

As telephone operator, she had become informed on all railroad personnel
officials and employees and had become familiar with the train services of
every road entering the city.

Callers at Miss Gosney ’s office window were from all walks of life. She
came to know both the great and near great — one acquaintance she will
always remember was Will Rogers. Several times Miss Gosney was instru-
mental in aiding the railroad and city police to apprehend criminals who
were endeavoring to leave the city by train.

She worked in this capacity until 1933, when the new Cincinnati Union
Terminal was opened and she was appointed chief telephone operator. She

750

WOMEN OF OHIO

is said to know the voices of more railroad officials and employees than
any telephone operator now in the service.

Miss Gosney has many civic interests, one of which has been her work
with the blind. She has assisted the Cincinnati Association for the Welfare
of the Blind in many ways and has helped with programs and charitable
endeavors.

DONNA J. HARKNESS

DONNA J. HARKNESS, secretary to the publicity manager of the
C. C. C. & St. L. Ry. at Cincinnati, was born at Fultonham (Muskingum
County), the daughter of Joseph and Sarah Chilcot Harkness.

In her childhood the family moved to Indianapolis, Ind., where her father
was an engineer on the Big Four Railway, so Donna is literally a “born
railroader. ” She went to school in Indianapolis and graduated from the
Business University there.

Her first railroad position was as stenographer in the master mechanic’s
office, Indianapolis. Later she was transferred to the office of superintendent
of motive power, the first woman stenographer in that department. Again
Miss Harkness was the first woman to go into the fuel supervisor’s office.
During 1919, when the railroads were under Government control the office
was moved to Cincinnati. Miss Harkness was the first woman statistician
in the fuel department. In 1920 when the publicity department was established
she was the first secretary in that office.

Miss Harkness took advertising, English and news writing in night
classes at the Cincinnati University. She assisted in the editing of two house
organs and writing items for newspapers and magazines. She has con-
tributed articles and poems to the New York Central and other rail magazines.
Her poem, “The Terminal’’ was widely published in Cincinnati, a copy went
into the cornerstone of the new Union Terminal and the poem was featured
in a publication of the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce. Poetry and painting,
reading and travelling are her chief interests.

Miss Harkness has traveled extensively, both in this country and abroad.
Her first ride in a locomotive cab was with her father and for Donna a ride
in an engine cab still holds a greater thrill than an airplane trip. Her longest
continuous ride was in 1923 when the New York Central operated a special
exhibition and educational train over the system, covering some 12,000 miles.
She took dictation, handled messages, letters and speeches for rail officials
and many state and city officials in six states. During the trip she rode in the
DeWitt Clinton train of 1831, mounted on flat cars. She “fired the 999,”
famous speed engine of 1893 and opened wide the throttle of a big freight
engine.

With Clara Kelly of the B. & O. Railroad, Miss Harkness organized the
Cincinnati Railway Business Women’s Association. She has held practically

WOMEN OF OHIO

751

every office of the club, having been on the board for seven years successively.
She is a member of the Ohio Newspaper Women’s Association, the Republican
Women’s Club and past president’s club of the R. B. W. A. and other rail
organizations.

Like most women of the rails, Miss Harkness takes a “ busman’s” holiday
on her vacations. Abroad she tried English, French and Italian trains and
crossed the Alps by Swiss Post. She varies rail trips with boat rides, having
visited Jamaica, Cuba, Nova Scotia, and Bermuda. She has been up in
airplanes and ridden the little cars down in coal mines. Donna would not
trade a seat in a Pullman for a locomotive cab any day.

MAE HAYES

MAE HAYES, president of the Cleveland Railway Business Women’s
Association, was born in Ireland, took her higher education at the Queen’s
University of Belfast and for a period devoted her ability and energy to
school teaching.

Miss Hayes came to America in her twenties and was soon appointed
to her present responsible position, that of assistant secretary to the Great
I Lakes Regional Advisory Board.

This work has occupied her for the past 15 years but not to the exclusion
of other vivid interests.

She was among the early members of the Cleveland R. B. W. A.,
which she has headed for two years ; is devoted to good music and out-of-door
sports; collects hooked rugs and assists in various civic and cultural move-
ments of her adopted city.

ANNA KATHERINE TILDEN HICKEY

ANNA KATHERINE TILDEN HICKEY (Mrs. J. B. Hickey), relief
agent for the C. C. C. & St. Louis Railway at Ansonia, Ohio, started in
railroad work as telegraph operator, then became ticket and freight agent
and has served her road well in other responsible capacities.

She was born in Juniata County, Penn.; reared in Ohio and married
to John B. Hickey, Big Four engineer, who died in 1923.

One of her most important services was as telegraph operator at Union
Station, Columbus, Ohio, during the World War.

Mrs. Hickey is owner of a large farm near Ansonia and also directs
management of a general store. Her recreation is travel. She has traversed
the country east and west, north and south — but has found no place as
beautiful, she maintains, as the mountains and valleys of her Pennsylvania
birthplace.

752

WOMEN OE OHIO

MARIE McALLEENAN KELLEY

MARIE McALLEENAN KELLEY of Cleveland, is a charter member of
the Railway Business Women’s Club, is one of its organizers and hardest
workers and was its second president.

She was formerly chief clerk of the office in Cleveland of the Boston
& Maine Railway Company.

Following her marriage to Walter Kelley, of the rate department of
the Nickel Plate Road, Marie McAlleenan gave up her position but is active
in club work, especially the Catholic Charities. She handles the welfare
activities of the Cleveland R.B.W.A. as associate member.

Marie is known as an indefatigable worker; as a musician and as a
woman who, despite the duties of her home, knows railroad business as well
as any man that ever held down a desk in a railway office.

CLARA B. KELLY

CLARA B. KELLY, passenger representative of the B. & 0. Railroad
Company at Cincinnati, Ohio, insists that she inherited what business ability
she possesses from a great, great grandmother who once ran an inn — for in
all her Kelly ancestry there is no other trace of business acumen on the
distaff side.

The Kellys were early Cincinnati settlers. They came down the Ohio
River by steamboat from Pittsburgh in 1832. Of course, they were Irish.
Clara’s great grandfather went back to Ireland to settle the family estate
and died while there. But her great grandmother, Sue Ann Kelly, stayed here
— and is buried in the old St. Joseph Cemetery on Price Hill.

Miss Kelly’s first position was with the old C. H. & D. Railroad but after
a few years, she drifted into the commercial field, and it was not until
November of 1924 that she was selected out of some two hundred applications
for the appointment as passenger representative of the B. & 0. Railroad.
She had always been interested in transportation and took a vacation every
summer, covering all of the United States and much of Canada. She had
also studied public speaking, and had been office manager of an automobile
company at the time of her appointment.

While it was primarily intended that Miss Kelly handle only women’s
clubs and organizations, she now has a large clientele among the doctors and
other men’s groups.

In addition she takes out large school groups and organizations of all
kinds, handling all details of their trips. She accompanies them on the
journey to see that everything clicks.

Clara Kelly was the first president of the Cincinnati Railway Business
Women’s Association. She is active in the Zonta Club; the Catholic Women’s
Club and the Business and Professional Women’s Club.

WOMEN OF OHIO

753

HELEN M. KODET

HELEN M. KODET, passenger representative of the B. & 0. Railroad
at Cleveland, affords an excellent example of the advantages derived from
informal as well as scholastic education.

Helen was born in Cleveland but although her parents have been United
States citizens for fifty years, both are of Czechoslovakian birth. A keen
intellectual curiosity caused their little daughter to speak their native tongue
and later to attend Czech classes on Sunday afternoons. She learned to speak
and understand German at high school and had three languages at her service
when she began her present work.

This was in the nature of informational talks among schools, churches,
women’s clubs and lodges, creating a desire to travel combined with pleasure
and education under proper guidance. Her greatest success has been among
the school children, of junior and high school ages.

Due to the fact that she has at her command other languages besides
| English, Miss Kodet has been able to talk to many foreign groups in the city,
encouraging these groups to visit the historical centers of our country,
acquainting themselves with the land of their adoption.

Miss Kodet is a member of the Cleveland Railway Business Women’s
Club ; the Zonta Club and of various groups working for Americanization of
the foreign born. She is a very busy woman but still finds time for a hobby —
j collection of early American glass.

META JULIA MOLITOR KONCANA

META JULIA MOLITOR KONCANA, secretary to the general attorney
of the New York Central System, Cleveland, was born in Cleveland, the
grand-daughter of pioneer settlers and a direct descendant of General Jacob
Molitor of the Napoleonic Wars.

She was in the first freshman class of the first high school of commerce
in Cleveland (now John Hay High) and became the school champion in short-
hand and typing. Her first position was with the leading firm of court
reporters of Cleveland. Meta served as secretary to the superintendent of
schools of East Cleveland and went to work for the New York Central Rail-
road as secretary to the general counsel in 1916.

She was married in 1917 to J. C. Koncana and in 1923 was called back
to railway service in a position never before “held by a woman”, as secretary
to the general attorney of the New York Central.

Mrs. Koncana was active for years in the Cleveland Business and Profes-
sional Women’s Club; was president two years of the Cleveland Railway
Business Women’s Association and was first editor of the Cleveland Railway
Business Women’s Association club paper — “Stop — Look — Listen”, so named
; bv the editor herself.

754

WOMEN OF OHIO

She is a past-president of Gamma Beta Chapter of East Cleveland of the
Delphian Society; is an officer in Erie Temple, Pythian Sisters; secretary-
treasurer of the Gamma Beta, East Cleveland Study Group, a member of
Delta Gamma Sorority; Mothers Club and of Windermere Church Women’s
Bible Class.

Mrs. Koncana has a daughter, now sophomore at Denison University,
Granville, Ohio.

ORA DRAKE OSBORNE

ORA DRAKE OSBORNE was born at Loveland, Ohio ; received her educa-
tion in Loveland High School ; studied music both piano and vocal and at the
age of 21 was married to the late Courtland Osborne to which marriage two
sons were born.

Widowed at an early age and thrown on her own resources, Mrs. Osborne
moved to Cincinnati where she became connected with the C. C. C. & St. L.
Railroad in the freight accounting department.

During the World War, the railroads were compelled to replace men sent
to the front by women. Mrs. Osborn was transferred to the Pennsylvania
Railroad in the ticket office where at that time she was the only woman selling
railroad tickets in Cincinnati.

She remained with the Pennsylvania Railroad at the depot located at
Pearl and Butler Sts. until all the railroads entering Cincinnati united in
the New Union Terminal at Freeman Ave. and Laurel Parkway.

Here she took over the information desk and became known to innumer- |
able travelers for ready and accurate service given with unfailing courtesy. I

Mrs. Osborn’s hobby is traveling. She has traversed virtually every state
in the Union. To this enjoyment she plans following her retirement in 1939,
to devote much of her leisure. Another active interest is the Cincinnati j
Railway Business Women’s Association of which she is a charter member.

CLARA POLLOCK

CLARA POLLOCK, former operator at Storrs Station, Ohio, was one of f
several Baltimore and Ohio railroad women with a long service record. She
came to the B. & 0. as operator, at Storrs Station, in 1884. She retired in ;
1929 and died not long afterwards,

JEANNETTE MOSGROVE STOKES

JEANNETTE MOSGROVE STOKES (Mrs. A. E. Stokes), first woman
ever made station agent on the Northern Division of the Big Four Railway,
was born at South Charleston, Ohio, the daughter of John and Mary B.
Mosgrove.

Her parents settled in Ohio after leaving Ireland nearly 70 years ago. i
Jeannette attended school at South Charleston and was graduated from the

WOMEN OF OHIO

South Charleston High School and for several years was a teacher of a dis-
trict school at Copeland near London, Ohio.

In 1896 Jeannette was married to the late Arthur E. Stokes, railroad
telegrapher and later auditor. He was also a talented musician and orchestra
leader.

His death left the widow with two children to be cared for. Something
had to be done.

Mrs. Stokes did not hesitate. She asked the railway officials for appoint-
ment to her husband’s position as depot master at Hartwell, near Cincinnati,
Ohio. The officials protested. It was not, they said, a woman’s job. But
it was very soon the job of Jeannette Stokes and she filled it so satisfactorily
that in a few years she was made demurrage clerk in the Big Four freight
office at Cincinnati, a position she now holds.

In the years that have passed she has become one of the best known
women employees of the division. Not only one of the best known but one
of the best loved as well. She is “ Mother Stokes” to innumerable fellow
workers ; to department officials, even to division heads.

Natural ability, love of accurate work, training, experience and a gift for
making friends have combined to fit her for the responsibilities entrusted to
her unhesitatingly.

For it is said that Mother Stokes never forgets a face — a name — or a
demurrage bill.

LUCY ROGERS WALSH

LUCY ROGERS WALSH, president of the Rock Island Southern Railway
Company, Rock Island, Illinois, is the daughter of Eliza Crane Rogers and
Job Rogers, both natives of Ohio. She was born at South Lebanon, Warren
County, Ohio ; attended the public schools there, afterward teaching in the
same school.

She went to Clinton, Iowa on a visit and met James W. Walsh, who
was a native of Clinton. Some years later, in 1908, they were married in
Davenport, Iowa. After a wedding trip to Europe, Egypt and Palestine they
returned to Davenport to make their home. But Mrs. Walsh has kept contacts
with her native state and takes pride in her Buckeye origin.

During the first two years of their marriage the Rock Island Southern
Railroad was built by Mr. Walsh and his three brothers. The line was origin-
ally built to serve the rich coal fields in its territory — it was an expensive
piece of construction — there being twenty bridges and trestles — the one over
Pope Creek 110 feet high and the one over Edwards River 1100 feet long.
The road carried more than 1000 passengers daily, but after public highways
were built and automobiles came into general use, passenger service was dis-
continued. After a time, the coal mines were abandoned and Mr. Walsh had
the problem of operating a railroad without sufficient revenue.

756

WOMEN OF OHIO

A man of quick vision, he saw that gasoline and fuel oil were to be a big
bulk of freight traffic and through an affiliated company he began the con-
struction of bulk storage tanks along the right of way from Rock Island to
Galesburg. Now this freight comprises half of the road’s revenue.

Mrs. Walsh often accompanied her husband during the building and
financing of the road and he discussed its business with her. When Mr. Walsh
died suddenly in July, 1932, the question of a successor arose. It was sug-
gested that Mrs. Walsh, who was more familiar with the affairs of the Rock
Island Southern than anyone else in the family, be made president and this
was done.

So the woman railroad president plunged into her new job, determined to
learn its every angle. She acquainted herself thoroughly with all office details.
But she did not stop there. From the rear platform of the 4 ‘caboose” Lucy
Walsh made regular inspections of the road, which she still continues. She
knows every foot of bridge, every plank of trestle, every “tanker” as she
knows the furnishings of her home.

As the Rock Island Southern was always her husband’s special interest,
it was easy to understand Mrs. Walsh’s very personal desire to keep the name
and credit of the road as Mr. Walsh had left it, and so far she has been able
to do so.

Mrs. Walsh has two daughters, Jeanne Rogers, now Mrs. Thomas Ewing,
Jr., who received both her B. A. and M. A. degrees at the State University of
Iowa and Mary Jeannette, now Mrs. Wiley H. Johnston, who graduated from
Martha Washington Seminary, Washington, D. C. But this is not all of her
family. It includes almost every employee of her railroad, to each of whom
she has for years been counselor and friend.

FRANCES WHITE WELLS

FRANCES WHITE WELLS, the founder president of the Cleveland Rail-
way Business Women’s Association, was at that time a secretary in the
Cleveland office of the New York Central. She was also a leader in the Cleve-
land Business and Professional Women’s Club and in the Zonta Club. She
was married several years ago and at present resides in Vancouver, Wash.

LUCY ROGERS WALSH

President, Bock Island Southern Rail-
way Company, horn at South
Lebanon, Ohio

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Women in Literatm

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

WOMEN IN LITERATURE

By MARY BERGER
Steubenville Herald Star

Literature has been well defined as “the lasting expression in
words of the meaning of life.” Women, born creative and imaginative,
have shared largely in this activity. Ohio women, in particular, may
take honest pride in their place in American literature.

Perhaps this statement may be questioned and in all sincerity it
may be asked: Who have been these gifted daughters of Ohio! Where
did they live! What did they write! From what background did they
draw their “expression in words of the meaning of life.”

The biographies that follow are answers to these questions. One
of these women, through her pen alone, did more than any other
human being to change the course of American history. A few of
them wrote prose or poetry still classed as gems by literary authorities.

The writings of others are important parts of our contemporary
literature. Their viewpoint is representative of the times in which
they live. Their work is current record, even though it may not win
undying fame.

Much of the poetry written by Ohio women shows depth as well
as felicity of expression. Novels and short stories are marked by
strong emotional appeal which makes no pretense at philosophic de-
tachment.

Some of the women here listed were not Ohio born but they spent
their formative and creative years among Ohio plains and hills and
valleys.

They lived among Ohio people, absorbed their habits and customs
until they became one of them. Their writings often have as back-
ground the Ohio they knew and loved — what other state could better
claim them!

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WOMEN OF OHIO

This chapter on Ohio Women in Literature concerns itself there-
fore, not only with the contributions women writers from the Buckeye !
State have made to American literature, but with their backgrounds i
and their ideals and with the communities in which they lived as wives,
mothers, daughters and sisters before they were anywhere recognized ,
or even recognized themselves as writers.

That this recognition, when and if it came, seemed to strengthen,
not weaken, personal ties and to increase, not decrease, personal re- 1
sponsibilities, is the final impression gained by this research in this j
special field of literary achievement.

Ohio women writers enjoyed in some instances, notable careers, j
Few, if any, became careerists.

Of none is this more true than it is of the woman who held and
perhaps will always hold the all time record for success of a single j
book — the woman novelist whose name still leads all the rest, Harriet
Beecher Stowe. In recognition of this great achievement, we waive
alphabetic order to the extent of placing her story first.

HARRIET BEECHER STOWE

HARRIET BEECHER STOWE was born in 1811, in Litchfield, Conn.,
but nobody is likely to dispute Ohio’s claim to nearly twenty years of her j
life, the years which provided material for “ Uncle Tom’s Cabin”. In its j
influence on human history this novel is said to have been exceeded by only
one other book, the Bible.

Literary, political, historical and sociological authorities have often taken
issue from their varied viewpoints, with this unique piece of work. They
have criticized the characterization, the technique, the political implications
and the historic facts, as set forth in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Doubtless with good
reason. It was written by the mother of six children, who started it with a
baby on her knee and all the cares of a minister’s wife in the immediate
foreground. It had no sanction of cold and careful research, no statistical
studies, no streamlined stylization. To these and other excellencies many
novels by other authors can lay just claim.

“Uncle Tom’s Cabin” changed — that is, did most to change — an entire j
economic system. Yet it is doubtful if its author knew — as we know today —
what an economic system meant.

“Uncle Tom’s Cabin” caused — that is, did most to cause — a major war,
still classed, because of its intensively internecine nature, as the most terrible 1

WOMEN OF OHIO

763

civil war in history. Yet it would have been hard to find a gentler, tenderer,
more sympathetic woman than Harriet Beecher Stowe.

More — this novel, written out of the fullness of a woman’s heart and the
force of her indignation with the phases of human slavery which came under
her personal observation during the years she lived in Cincinnati — from 1832
to 1850 — outsold in its day, every other book ever written by an American.

It was translated into more than 30 foreign languages. This was true
at the time of no other book in the world except the Bible — a record which
probably still stands.

“ Uncle Tom’s Cabin” accomplished its purpose — of arousing public in-
dignation to the evils of negro slavery — far beyond the wildest hopes of the
woman who wrote it in the “leisure” permitted her by six children, a pro-
fessor husband and a professor’s household.

It lit the moral fires that burnt out an immoral human institution, one
fortified, moreover, by the power of great wealth and great social prestige.

Let us look closer at the woman who did this thing. Let us satisfy our-
selves as to the fact that her 20 years residence in Ohio caused her to write
what many — this editor among them — still regard as the most important novel
ever written by any woman, of yesterday or today.

When Harriet Beecher was 21 years old she came to Cincinnati with her
father, the Rev. Lyman Beecher, a Congregational minister born in New
Haven, Conn. His eloquence and power, enlisted in the cause of all that was
good and against all that was evil, as he saw good and evil, had attracted
wide attention. Lane Theological Seminary had been established on Walnut
Hills, then the outskirts of Cincinnati. Strong financial support was pledged
to this new religious training center provided Dr. Beecher was made president.
So he was appointed and came west, bringing his family with him. Dr.
Beecher married three times and had, in all 13 children. Of these seven
sons became clergymen, very notably Henry Ward Beecher, said to have been
the greatest pulpit orator of his day.

Each of Dr. Beecher’s four daughters inherited the strong literary and
sociological strain that distinguished this great American family. But no
| one seems to have considered Harriet as clever, in her youth at home, as, for
instance, her sister CATHERINE BEECHER who for a time headed a female
seminary.

Tn 1833, a year after her family settled in Cincinnati, Harriet Beecher
: made a visit to Kentucky, in the course of which she had opportunity of
observing more than one slave plantation. She pushed her inquiries as best
• she could — undoubtedly her father, strongly anti-slavery, was able to help
her with many tragic details. Meanwhile there had been danger of a mob
j attack on Lane Seminary by pro-slavery sympathizers. Only the muddy roads,
I deep with clay, saved it. But the board of trustees got worried — they ruled

I

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WOMEN OF OHIO

that there must be no discussions on slavery. Dr. Beecher was away at the
time or this could hardly have happened. Many of the student body left Lane
Seminary because of this ruling. But it’s an ill wind that blows no good.
Oberlin College, it is said, owes its early impetus to this withdrawal from
Lane Seminary.

All these things deeply impressed Harriet Beecher, despite other import-
ant matters on her mind. For in 1836 she married Calvin E. Stowe, a professor
at Lane Seminary and during the ensuing dozen years, six children centered
responsibility.

But in 1850 something very terrible happened. The Fugitive Slave Act,
which required citizens of FREE states to AID in catching and in returning
escaped slaves, became the law of the land. This was too much for Harriet
Beecher Stowe.

That same year her husband joined the faculty of Bowdoin College and
the whole Stowe family moved to Brunswick, Me. But this did not stop
Harriet. Nothing could have stopped her then. She began writing all the
material she had gathered while living on the slave states border, into one
book. It’s name was “ Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and it was published in 1852.

The great highlight of the story — Eliza’s escape over the ice — Mrs. Stowe
had obtained right in Cincinnati. Levi Coffin, known wherever slavery was
talked of as “ president” of the “ Underground Railway” was the original
of “ Simeon Holliday” benevolent Quaker who helped “ Eliza” and little
“ Harry” make their getaway.

Of Levi Coffin and his wife Catherine other characteristic stories are told
in another chapter of this history. Except for a few details, most of the story
of Eliza Harris’ escape and the circumstances back of it have been validated.
Henry Howe, in his Historical Collections., gives that portion of the Ohio
River between Ripley, Ohio and the Kentucky shore as the scene of the exploit,
dramatized, probably, more than any portion of any novel ever written.

Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote other stories, some of them rated, from
the technical and literary point of view, much higher than “ Uncle Tom’s
Cabin”. She was, without question a facile and able fictionist, her “Dred,
A tale of the Dismal Swamp” would alone have established this.

But quibblings over the quantity and quality of literary skill possessed
by the author of “ Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ seem a trivial and tiresome waste of
time.

She had what it took.

She had what it took to tell the world that, exaggerated or not exag-
gerated, general or local, the evil of a system which placed the entire life of
one human being altogether within the power of another human being, was
an intolerable evil. That humans, all fallible, however fine, were not adequate
to such responsibility and certainly not entitled to it by purchase of the
bodies of other humans.

WOMEN OF OHIO

765

Several other gifted women have written cleverly and convincingly on
ante helium and post helium themes. They have stressed strongly evils at-
tendant on emancipation. They have told their stories well and, in their
immediate application, truly.

But the story that this mother of six children told the world had in it,
although fiction, a deep and basic truth, inseparable and undisputable. It can
never be untold.

MAY ALLREAD BAKER

MAY ALLREAD BAKER, writer and poet of Lewisburg, has had verse
articles and short stories published in national magazines and journals.

Miss Baker was awarded a prize in 1938, which appeared in a leading
farm magazine and was wddely reprinted.

She has completed her first non-fiction book and has another in the making.

EMMA S. BACKUS

EMMA S. BACKUS could and probably should be listed as literary first
aid to her city and fellow citizens. Even before her first full length novel
“The Career of Dr. Weaver” was published, Cincinnatians had gotten into
the habit of calling on her for expert assistance in presenting to the public
civic and social enterprises to which her literary and dramatic skill gave
color and vitality.

“Dr. Weaver”, based on the author’s own experiences as private secre-
tary of a famous physician, soon ran into 10,000, was listed as a best seller in
Cincinnati and soon brought the author advance contracts for two more books.
“Rose of Roses” and “A Place in the Sun”.

This was fine for Emma Backus, the writer. But for Mrs. Henry Backus,
wife of a Cincinnatian deeply interested in the progress of the city and active
in numerous movements for public health, social welfare and civic betterment,
it was not so good, for Mrs. Backus shared her husband’s interests so deeply
and lent her talent to public movements so enthusiastically that there seemed
never a moment when she was not involved in one such project or another.

Then again there were the Backus children. And the Backus home,
“Belfry Lodge”, rebuilt from an old school house in the restoration of which
a real community interest was aroused. This led to other civic undertakings.
There must be a community center in which this re-awakened interest could
be kept alive, broadened and intensified.

Even so, Emma Backus managed to make time for creative writing that
revealed an unusual gift for revivifying history as well as a strong bent for
painstaking and accurate historical research.

Long before the Sesquicentennial Celebration of the Northwest Territory
was projected, Mrs. Backus had centered interest of innumerable readers on

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WOMEN OF OHIO

various characters of this period, notably George Rogers Clark, whose services i
to his country she pictured in numerous stories, articles and plays.

“The Border Line” a full length play with this historic theme, was i!
featured in a radio program during the Philadelphia Sesquicentennial. When I
the one hundredth anniversary of Cincinnati’s city charter was celebrated,
Mrs. Backus wrote the pageant. When a committee of Kentucky tobacco
growers, with the late Robert Bingham, former ambassador to England, as
chairman, wanted a pageant, Emma Backus wrote “The Princess of the Pool”.
Then there were operettas, “Twilight Alley” with music by Paul Bliss, “The 1
Singing Soul”, a Chinese play adapted from Lafcarie Hearne’s “The Bell” ;
and a brochure “Cornelius Sedam and His Friends” written for the Ohio
Historical and Philosophical Society.

Sandwiched in between such writing were — and are — civic duties, club
duties, family duties. Time — there is never enough of time. But there never
was. That the hurried and harassed life of today was not shared by men and
women of yesterday is one of the mistaken notions about our forebears which
Mrs. Backus has helped, through her research, to disclose. Men and women
who do things have always been the men and women with too many things
to do. So all that is really important — and this is perhaps the heart of the
philosophy of Emma Backus^ — is just to keep on doing.

REBEKAH COLLIDGE BERGER
REBEKAH COLLIDGE BERGER, wife of F. L. Berger, a professor of
mathematics and science in Ohio Northern University, is a writer of excellent
poems, many of them thought compelling, for instance :

LET ME GROW TIRED
“Toil is sweet: let me grow tired — •

Let me look on a task well done,

At close of day: — no eve more blest.

When God gave Eve and Adam toil,

’Twas a blessing they knew not of —

A home, a love, to compensate —

Sweet hours of rest when tired.”

Ada, Ohio — Dec. 7, 1938 — Rebekah Berger.

FLORENCE SCOTT BERNARD
FLORENCE SCOTT BERNARD (Mrs. Ebbert L. Bernard), Toledo writer,
was born at Clyde, Ohio the daughter of Frank and Dora Scott. She attended
Toledo University, was married to Ebbert Louis Bernard in 1906 and was for
a period treasurer of the Toledo Writers Club. Mrs. Bernard is author of
“Through the Cloud Mountain”, “Diana of Briarcliffe” and of short stories
published in national magazines. Her home is at 4014 Wetzler Rd., Toledo, 0.

WOMEN OF OHIO

767

SUSIE M. BEST

When one thing is remembered out of thousands forgotten, be sure that
there is good reason for this indelible impression. Nearly 25 years ago atten-
tion of the writer of this biography was challenged by a Christmas poem
given a two page display in the then leading literary monthly of the country.

The poem “ Miracle Dreams” was signed with a name then virtually
unknown except to the fellow teachers of SUSIE M. BEST in the Cincinnati
public schools. It ran —

That night when in Judean skies

The mystic Star dispensed its light,

A blind man stirred him in his sleep,

And dreamed him he had sight.

That night when shepherds heard the song
Of hosts angelic hovering near,

A deaf man stirred in slumber’s spell
And dreamed him he could hear.

That night when in the cattle stall

Slept Child and Mother cheek by jowl,

A cripple turned his twisted limbs,

And dreamed him he was whole.

That night when o’er the new-born Babe
The tender Mary rose to lean,

A loathsome leper smiled in sleep
And dreamed him he was clean.

That night when to his Mother’s breast
The little King was held secure,

A harlot slept a happy sleep

And dreamed her she was pure.

That night when in the manger lay
The Sanctified who came to save,

A man moved in the sleep of death
And dreamed there was no grave.

And did recognition of the gifts which enabled Miss Best to write with
I such beauty and simplicity cause her to abandon her work as teacher? Not at
ill. For to Susie Montgomery Best what seemed most important, then and
! low, was not appreciation by grown ups of her own poetry but appreciation

768

WOMEN OF OHIO

by children of the classic stories of the ages, told and retold, but not, she
felt, in such fashion as to grip the interest and fire the imagination of the |!
average child.

This had become, to a large extent, her special work as teacher in the j
upper primary grades in various schools, notably at Dyer School, where her
“story telling” technique was given opportunity for development. Stories h
of early English history — Miss Best is herself a direct descendant of that j .
Earl Robert Montgomery who fought with William the Conqueror at the i
Battle of Hastings — stories of early Egypt and early Greece and early Rome®
— these came to fit so definitely and practically into the teaching of good
English to children that presently there came a real demand for their
publication.

Four volumes were gotten out by a leading firm of publishers and j ■
presently these were followed by another, “Steer for New Shores.” All
these are now widely used as supplementary readers in schools throughout i
the country. They brought with them numerous requests for lectures and]
for articles in national and educational magazines and juvenile publications, j d

The demand for her literary work grew and finding it impossible to
continue both writing and teaching she gave up her regular school work, :
with which, however, she has remained in close touch. Miss Best finally 1 1
found time to get out a volume of verse, “Altar Candles.” It is quite a I
slender volume but all the more impressive for this reason.

It would be hard to find a more searching question than is deftly asked : J
in the two short stanzas of the final poem, “The Riddle”:

“We met upon the windy ways
A new born soul was she
And I was one whose light was blown —

Seeking eternity.

I gave her hail. She cried God speed ;

She said, ‘How sad to die’;

I smiled, ‘It’s sadder to be born’

AND NEITHER ONE KNEW WHY.”

Miss Best has been awarded many prizes in poetry contests and is an
active member of the National League of American Penwomen, of the |
Cincinnati Women’s Press Club, of the Greater Cincinnati Writers League d
and of various civic and educational organizations.

SUSIE M. BEST

poet and former teacher, Cincinnati

WOMEN OF OHIO

771

KATHERINE Iv. BURTON

KATHERINE K. BURTON (Mrs. Harry Payne Burton), author of “Sor-
row Built a Bridge,” one of the 1938 best fiction sellers, was born in Cleveland
and graduated in 1909 from the College for Women, now Flora Stone Mather
College. She was married in 1910 to Harry Payne Burton.

Katherine Burton has been assistant, later associate, editor of McCalls
Magazine, assistant editor of the Red Book and is now one of the staff of
editors of “The Sign.”

She has written many articles, poems and stories for leading magazines.

LILLIAN CAHEN

LILLIAN CAHEN (Mrs. E. B. Zevin), editor and assistant secretary-
treasurer of the World Syndicate Publishing Company, of Cleveland, was
born in that city, the daughter of Alfred and Charlotte Cahen.

She is a writer of children’s stories, the author of “Best Baby Book”
and “My Pets”; also of articles on related topics. Her home is at 2818
Washington Boulevard, Cleveland Heights.

LILY B. CAMPBELL

LILY B. CAMPBELL, nationally known authority on Shakespeare, was
I born in Ada, Ohio. She was the daughter of the Presbyterian minister, Z. B.
Campbell.

Her mother, Anna Barrington Campbell, who came to Ada as a bride
in 1882, is still remembered for her social grace and civic helpfulness. She
| organized the Presbyterian Missionary society in the local church, and was
! a charter member of the Current Events Club.

Dr. Campbell is a full time Professor of English in the University of
| California at Los Angeles, since 1922. She had previously been Dean of
Women and English teacher in the University of Wisconsin.

She lectures in the English Departments of many colleges.

Among her published works are “Scenes and Machines of English Stage,”
1923. “These Are My Jewels,” 1929. “Shakespeares Tragic Heroes,” 1930,
[I and numerous monographs on “History of the Theatre.”

ALICE AND PHOEBE CARY

If two famous sisters, ALICE and PHOEBE CARY, could have known
before they died that their father’s big brick farm house at Mt. Healthy —
about eight miles from the heart of Cincinnati — was one day to become the
inow widely known Clovernook Home for the Blind, it would probably have
] reconciled them to what was their greatest early hardship.

Their problem, when they began writing, Alice in her early twenties,
« Phoebe a few years younger, was how to obtain light for their literary labors.

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WOMEN OF OHIO

These had to wait, of course, until nightfall. Their days must be devoted to
household work, there was lots to do in the big house — which still stands as
center of the Clovernook structures — and besides, for girls to waste their
time in writing and such like fol-de-rol would have been wicked nonsense
in the opinion of their stepmother. She meant no harm, many good housewives
of that era felt that way.

Robert Cary, father of the Cary sisters, who came to Ohio from New
Hampshire in 1803, may have felt differently but could probably do little
about it. His first wife, Elizabeth Jessup, had herself definite literary tastes
and doubtless encouraged her young daughters. But she died in 1835, when
Alice was 17 and Phoebe only 13 years. And two years later the father
married again.

But the “Cary Sisters” were not easily daunted. When their stepmother
held out on candles, they improvised ways and means — a saucer full of lard,
with a bit of rag for a wick, was better than nothing.

Alice began writing verse at 18 years of age. What’s more, her poems
found publication promptly. They were printed in newspapers of Cincinnati,
in the “Ladies Repository” of Boston and the “National Era” of Washington.

What’s still more, the poems were read — and by no lesser literary lights
than John Greenleaf Whittier and Edgar Allan Poe. Whittier wrote to the
Cary girls, told them how excellent was the note of simplicity and how
metrical the rhythmic beauty of their work. And Poe, then at the heighth
of his fame, pronounced Alice Cary’s “Pictures of Memory” to be “One of
the most musically perfect lyrics of our language.”

So literature flourished despite lack of candle-power and in 1852 Alice
realized that the time had come to really do things about it. She went to
New York and presently Phoebe joined her. They established themselves in
a modest home, where, however, they could presently hold “Sunday Eve-
nings.” All went well — too well — perhaps. For Alice had never been very
strong and presently she fell sick, an illness prolonged for years.

Phoebe nursed her — how tenderly there are no words to tell. And
although she herself was by nature of robust health, she sickened after her
sister’s death — in 1871 — and Phoebe followed Alice Cary within five months.

Phoebe was fortunately very sure of what she would find on the other
side of the dark river. Her assurance rings triumphant in one of her most
famous poems — for she too, had a real gift. This poem was set to music —
you can hardly ruffle the pages of a good hymn book today without finding
it. The poem says:

“One sweetly solemn thought
Comes to me o’er and o’er
I’m nearer home today, today
Than I have been before.”

WOMEN OF OHIO

773

“Nearer my Father’s house
Where the great mansions be
Nearer the great white throne
Nearer the crystal sea.”

MARY HARTWELL CATHERWOOD
Luray, Ohio, was the birthplace and home during her youth of MARY
HARTWELL CATHERWOOD, whose fame as writer of historical tales of
Canada and the great Northwest became widespread in the Nineties. She
was born in 1847 and died in 1902, when her stories were at the height of
their well deserved vogue. Among them were “A Woman in Armour”; “The
Romance of Dollard”; “The White Islander”; “A Story of Mackinac” and
I “Lazarre. ”

CHARLOTTE REEVE CONOVER
Writer, lecturer and historian of many phases of Dayton’s life, CHAR-
I LOTTE REEVE CONOVER has been a familiar figure in this city for many
years. She was born at Dayton in 1855, a daughter of Dr. J. C. and Emma
(Barlow) Reeve, and acquired her preliminary education in the Dayton
schools. Following her graduation from Central High School in 1874, she
j continued her studies at Geneva, Switzerland, and after her return to America
] she married Frank Conover.

Mrs. Conover is well known as a contributor to various magazines and
j as a lecturer on many platforms. From 1909 to 1912 she conducted two
j departments of the Ladies Home Journal. She has been on the staff of Dayton
newspapers on several occasions, serving for three years as editor of the
I woman’s page of the Dayton News and for four years at different times she
has been a special writer of the Dayton Journal. Her contributions to the
f! Sunday edition of the Daily News are entitled Mrs. Conover’s Corner. She
j is the author of many published volumes, including among others : ‘ ‘ The
I'! Story of Dayton,” “Concerning the Forefathers,” “Some Dayton Saints and

( Prophets,” and a number of monographs and pamphlets of historical interest.
Her largest work is “Dayton, Ohio and Intimate History.” Another which
| she has in preparation is a story of Dayton for use in schools, entitled
| “Builders in New Fields,” being a contribution to the great Northwest, with
j especial recognition of several members of the Patterson family in Ken-
| tucky and Ohio. She has letters of appreciative recognition of her work from
l Booth Tarkington and others distinguished in the field of letters.

As a lecturer, Mrs. Conover is best known for her weekly talks on
curreiy*- events given in Ohio cities and on the Pacific coast. She is regarded
as an authority on the history of the Dayton section of Ohio. Her interests,
however, have not been purely historical. After four years of research in
libraries of the United States and France, she prepared a series of five in-

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WOMEN OF OHIO

terpretive lectures on the great French dramatist Moliere. These she has given
at Brooklyn Institute, Western College for Women, at Oxford, at the Western !
Reserve University and at Mills College in California, the Chautauqua Assem- |
bly in New York and in many other higher educational institutions, in private ■
schools, at clubs and in homes in various American cities.

Mrs. Conover has traveled widely and in 1904 spent a summer at the
Cours de Vacances of the University of Geneva, Switzerland, studying French
language and literature, but most of all she has made a definite donation to
cultural progress in her native city of Dayton and the state in which she has ;
always resided.

MARY BEATRICE CORWIN

MARY BEATRICE CORWIN (Mrs. Edward M. Corwin), Cincinnati,
writer and editor, was born at Eddyville, Kentucky, the daughter of David
Strauss and Anna Maria Holman; graduated from the Xenia High School;
took special studies at Antioch College; at Cooper Institute, Dayton and at
the National Normal University, Lebanon, Ohio.

For a time she taught in the public schools. Mrs. Corwin was editor and
publisher of the Club Woman’s Magazine of Cincinnati — 1908-1932. She is a
leading member of the W.C.T.U. ; a pioneer of the Woman’s Suffrage Asso-
ciation; a charter member of the Kentucky MacDowell Society and was
president of this society 1924-1926. Mrs. Corwin was a founder of the
Woman’s Rotary Club of Cincinnati, in 1914.

In 1933 she assembled the seven still living Temperance Crusaders of
1873-1874, to dedicate a bronze tablet memorial to their comrades of the
Crusade in Hamilton County.

The following names of the members now deceased appear on the tablet:
Mrs. Minerva Smith Stephens
Mrs. D. R. White
Mrs. Florence L. Smith
Mrs. E. S. Swormstedt
Mrs. Mary Reeves
Mrs. E. P. Whallon
Mrs. Emma Black Weaver

Mary Corwin has traveled in the United States and has visited every
important city. She associated with the late Mary Swindler Procter in the
office of the Lebanon, Ohio, “Patriot” three years.

She is the author of “How the Promise was Kept,” and contributes
poetry and miscellaneous articles to the daily press; reviews fiction and
writes poems that have appeared in excellent anthologies.

ANNETTE COVINGTON

ANNETTE COVINGTON, born in Cincinnati and identified definitely as
artist and writer with the development of her home city, has challenged more

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WOMEN OF OHIO

775

than local interest on still another count, that of literary research. Some
years ago Miss Covington discovered the signature of Francis Bacon on the
first text page of a folio of Shakespeare’s plays and ever since has been
prominent among students of literature who believe that plays of the Bard
of Avon can be traced to a Baconian source.

This widely known Cincinnati woman attended private school then
Western College, where she received her A.B. degree. She studied at Pratt
Institute and at the Cincinnati Art Academy and specialized in portraiture,
for which she has been awarded excellent prizes.

ANNE VIRGINIA CULBERTSON

The most famous poet among women of Muskingum County was ANNE
VIRGINIA CULBERTSON, 1857-1918. She was born and spent most of her
life in Zanesville and was a notable descendant of one of the county’s oldest
pioneer families.

Her best known collections include “Lays of a Wandering Minstral”;
a book of Negro folk-lore called, “At the Big House”; and “When the
Banjo Talks.”

She was a member of the Vigilantes, the national society of poets and
writers called into being during the World War, whose duty it was to write
poems and stories to excite interest in the sale of Liberty Bonds. She was
the founder of the All Around Club of Zanesville, which with the Author’s
Club of Zanesville have been in existence since the early 1890 ’s. Both are
literary study clubs and from them have come down through the years many
talented and cultured women.

CLARA LONGWORTH de CHAMBRUN

Six years ago ,when the CLARA LONGWORTH de CHAMBRUN (the
i Countess Adelbert de Chambrun) published “The Making of Nicholas Long-
worth”, Washington, D. C., was quite as eager to read her book as was Cin-
i cinnati, her home town and Paris, France, where the de Chambruns have their
I official residence.

It is true that the Countess de Chambrun, a sister of the late Nicholas
j Longworth, former speaker of the house and husband of Alice Roosevelt
| Longworth, had long since established a literary reputation of the first order,
i She was and is accepted as the principal authority on the life and works of
Shakespeare on which theme she has recently (1938) completed and a new and
very important book.

This is “Shakespeare Rediscovered” which has been highly praised by
leading critics and other literary experts abroad and in the United States.

But what is still more recent and interests — whether it should or not —
| Cincinnatians even more is the publication of an exhaustive history of her

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WOMEN OF OHIO

native city, from its beginning to the present clay (1939) which Clara de
Chambrun has just completed.

Nobody knows this subject better than the former Clara Longwortli,
sister of the former Ohio Congressman and daughter of the Nicholas Long-
worth preceding him. In her biography of her brother she begins with his and
her great grandfather, the Nicholas Longworth who floated down to Cincin-
nati from Pittsburgh on a flat boat with “six dozen plain and ruffled shirts”
in his leather chest.

Obviously this third son of the New Jersey Longworths, smarting under
treatment accorded those who believed themselves loyalists but none the less j
branded by the spirit of ’76 as “traitors”, had no intention, in his new start,
of being at sartorial disadvantage.

On the political side, a letter written to Clara de Chambrun by Nick
during the campaign which ended in nomination of Herbert Hoover for the
presidency is one of many highlights. It discloses that Longworth was him-
self in no unreceptive mood.

“. . . since the President made his statement which is properly, I think,
to be interpreted as positive declination to be a candidate in 1928, the field
is open and I cannot help realizing that I may be called on to undertake the j
great adventure. So far, those generally mentioned are Hoover, Lowden,
Hughes and myself.”

How Clara Longworth de Chambrun and her family had advantage of
newspapers which headlined the engagement of Nick and Alice throughout
the world is another good story told for the first time.

“Shortly after return of the secretary of war and his party from the
Philippines, I received a cable which read: ‘Nasum Nanda. ’ The first word, !
in my code, signified ‘an engagement has been contracted and will shortly be
announced between.’ But there was no such word as ‘nanda’ in the book.

“But it took our concerted effort to reach such conclusion that ‘Nanda’
meant ‘N and A.’ After that, we knew. For once we had information before
the newspapers.”

But it is in the results of her research in history of early Cincinnati, as i
background for her brother’s, father’s, grandfather’s, and great-grandfather’s
experiences that Mme. de Chambrun ’s book is richest in human interest.

Her story of Abraham Lincoln’s chance encounter with the first Cincinnati
Nicholas Longworth is also striking.

“One summer day, 1857, a tall man who appeared to have outworn his
clothes hesitatingly passed through the Pike St. gate.” She recounts how
the business on which the tall man had made his trip to Cincinnati had failed ;
him, he was trying to put in his day. He asked a bent little old man, weeding
the pathway, who owned “this fine house?”

The bent little man was the first Nicholas Longworth, father of the family jj
fortunes, and the tall man was Lincoln.

WOMEN OF OHIO

777

Innumerable other stories told by the authoress in “The Making of
Nicholas Longworth” have whetted real and widespread curiosity on her
new book.

Mme. de Chambrun has devoted most of her life to writing and research.
Her home was at “Rookwood” the famous Cincinnati home of the Long-
worth’s, until 1901, when she was married to the Count de Chambrun, head
of one of the finest families of France, a direct descendent of Lafayette.

General de Chambrun was one of the outstanding officers of the French
army during the World War and later was in command of the French forces
during the disorders in Algeria. The Countess de Chambrun spends part of
every year in Cincinnati.

Mme. de Chambrun was decorated and holds the degree of Doctor of the
University of Paris in recognition of her major contribution to the world’s
knowledge of the life of the Bard of Avon. Her published works are :

In English — “Shakespeare Rediscovered,” “Shadows Like Myself,”
“Shakespeare, Actor-Poet.” Shakespeare’s Sonnets: “New Light and Old
Evidence,” “Playing With Souls,” “His Wife’s Romance,” “Breaking the
King Row,” “The Making of Nicholas Longworth,” “Hamlet.”

And in French: “Giovanni Florio : un apotre de la Renaissance a l’epoque
de Shakespeare,” “Shakespeare, acteur-poete,” “Hamlet de Shakespeare,”
“Le Roman d’un homme d’affaires,” “La nouvelle Desdemone,” “Deux
bagues au doigt,” “Antoine et Cleopatre,” “L’Echiquier.”

THERESSA M. DeFOSSETT

THERESSA M. DeFOSSETT (Mrs. Albert J. DeFossett), of Columbus,
is associate editor of the American Poetry Magazine and the author of more
than 500 published poems, which have received national prize awards and
appeared in well known anthologies.

She is president of the Ohio Branch, American Poetry Circle and is deeply
J interested in collecting data on women writers. She is the wife of Dr. A. J.
DeFossett. Their home is at 157 Twelfth Ave., Columbus.

MARY CAROLINE AND JANE CAMPBELL DENVER

The famous Cary sisters had literary precedent right in their own state.
! Moreover, their prototypes were not only sisters but twins.

MARY CAROLINE and JANE CAMPBELL DENVER were born in Win-
| Chester, Vt., Feb. 8, 1821 but moved to Wilmington, Ohio, when they were
I ten years old. They were the daughters of Patrick Denver, an officer in the
War of 1812. Mary was first to show her gift for verse. She began writing
poetry at 11 and continued to do so with growing expressiveness and skill,
| for more than 30 years. Jane began to express herself in verse several years
later than Mary. Jane wrote, it is said, with more force and spirit but Mary’s
thoughts flowed more freely, apparently quite without effort.

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WOMEN OF OHIO

General Albert Pike, the same hero for whom was named the first steam-
boat plying the Ohio River between Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, wrote the
preface to a “Poems by M. C. and J. C. Denver” published in 1875. Many
of them are nature lyrics, but some deal with world affairs, for instance ‘ ‘ Paul
in the Prison of Kosciusco. ”

Jane died in 1847 and very soon her twin sister, whose mental and
spiritual life had been almost as close as her physical twinship, fell ill. Mary’s
death did not take place until 1860 but she never recovered health or strength.
The bond that was really vital had long since been broken.

MARY QUIGLEY ELLIOTT

MARY QUIGLEY ELLIOTT (Mrs. A. W. Elliott) of Mt. Vernon, Ohio,
author of a history of the outstanding writers of Knox County was born in
Tuscarawas County, attended school there and entered Ohio State University,
later transferring to Wooster College.

For a time she was principal of Beall Ave. School at Wooster, then joined
the college faculty.

Following her marriage to A. W. Elliott, now superintendent of schools
of Mt. Vernon, their home was established in that city where Mrs. Elliott
continued to teach for a time.

She has been active in numerous educational, civic and cultural organiza-
tions and has served as president of a number of important clubs.

The fact that an unusual number of writers of distinction had at one time
or another lived in Knox County, has long interested Mrs. Elliott and several
years ago she began a definite research, the results of which took form of a
valuable addition to Ohio publications.

Mrs. Elliott’s book contains biographies of 80 writers, all born or resi-
dent at some time in Knox County, who have made worthwhile contributions ,
to American literature. This book is now in many libraries and is a reference
volume of real distinction and value.

In his review in the Columbus Dispatch, Oscar Hopper said of this book —

“Mary Quigley Elliott has done a gracious and unusual thing by writing
and putting between covers brief biographies of 80 persons who have in one
way or another contributed to the literature of America, and lived for a time,
at least, in Knox County, Ohio.

“Among these are a few of the following whose names and work will be
recognized at once : Bishop Philander Chase, Founder of Kenyon College ;
Daniel Decatur Emmett, Author of ‘Dixie’; Paul Kester, Author of ‘When
Knighthood was in Flower’; Lorain A. Lathrop, American Consul and writer
of fiction ; and Anna Louise Strong, Author and Lecturer. The book well
printed and bound in cloth, well evidences the fact that Knox County has
contributed its fair quota to culture and education. The book is unique in
that it is the only collection of its kind ever published in Ohio.”

WOMEN OF OHIO

779

MARY E. FEE

MARY E. FEE, born in Clermont County, who wrote in the eighteen
fifties under the pen name 44 Eulalie” found gratifying reception for a volume
of verse published in Cincinnati in 1854. About that time she married John
Shannon and went west to California. There she gave recitals of her poems
and lectures which drew crowded houses, said to have made a record for
literary entertainments of the day in the Golden West.

Mary was, in accordance with the popular poetic motif of her time, a
romanticist. But sentiment did not prove strong enough to sustain her in the
tragic romance written by fate into her own life. Her husband fell in a duel.
They had been devoted to each other and 4 4 Eulalie ” died soon after.

MARTHA FARQUHARSON FINLEY

MARTHA FARQUHARSON FINLEY, author of the Elsie Dinsmore
books, one of the most popular juvenile series of their or of any other day,
was born in Chillicothe, Ohio in 1828, the daughter of Dr. James Brown Fin-
ley and Martha Theresa Brown Finley. Her parents were cousins, of Scotch
descent. One of Martha’s ancestors was killed by Graham of Claverhouse
in a personal encounter.

The Finleys moved to Ireland in 1682, Michael, the American forebear
of the Finley family, came to Bucks County, Penn., in 1742. It is said that
Martha’s great grandfather was killed by Indians near Carlisle. Her grand-
father, the Rev. Robert Finley, became president of Princeton College, the
friend of George Washington, a major of cavalry in the Revolutionary War
and a general in the War of 1812.

It was on the advice of Nathaniel Massie, founder of Chillicothe, that
the Rev. Robert came to that community and lent staunch aid in the building
up of the Presbyterian Church. His son James, father of Martha, was a lieu-
tenant in the War of 1812, a physician, surveyor, circuit riding minister and
an Indian scout.

s

This versatility finds its echo in the books of his daughter, although
Martha Finley was 40 years old before the first of her 4 4 Elsie Books” was
published. She began her literary career as a writer for newspapers and
Sunday School publications. It is said that her entire output totalled approxi-
mately 100 volumes and that the total sales of her various books totalled
two million.

Martha used Farquharson instead of Finley as her writing name but it
meant the same thing — in Gaelic. She died at the age of' 80, at Elkton, Md.
The old Finley home was at Paint and Second Streets, now the heart of the
business district of Chillicothe.

780

WOMEN OF OHIO

ABBIE FLANNER
True love, true love
How does it strike you, love?

In this Abbie — Fitz Romance
Wouldn’t Abbie take a chance?

Or did Halleck let things ride
Rather on the frigid side ?

1939 Crooners Chapbook.

Once upon a time, when practically everybody regarded poetry as the i
language of romance and nobody suspected that it could ever become the I
hard boiled tongue of reality, there lived in New York City a very popular
poet — a bachelor — whose name was Fitz Greene Halleck.

At about this same time — in the eighteen thirties — there lived at Mt.
Pleasant, Ohio a very attractive young poetess, whose name was ABBIE ;
FLANNER.

Abbie was born in North Carolina, the daughter of William and Penina
Flanner, who came to Ohio during her childhood. To be honest, Abbie ’s name '
is not included in most text books on American literature nor are her verses
to be found in high school anthologies. So she was probably not a great poet,
even judged by the standards of her time. But she certainly did conform
to these standards by being a most romantic one. She was a fine conversa-
tionalist and altogether quite a popular young woman.

One night, when there was a party at the Flanner home — although her
father was a Quaker leader, Abbie seems to have had rather a nice time — I
the conversation turned, as it often did, on the famous bachelor poet who,
like Lord Byron, was all the more popular and romantic because of his sym-
pathy for the Greeks in their struggle for independence. It was not long
since he had written, £ ‘ Marco Bozzaris” a poem which is included in most j
high school anthologies and which was declaimed in their youth by many
more present day grandmothers and grandfathers than will ever read these
pensive lines.

“ Strike — for the Green Graves of your Sires
God — and your Native Land.”

Finally — at Abbie ’s party — it was boldly suggested that some one write
to the wonderful Mr. Halleck — open up a correspondence — in fact, write HIM
a poem. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?

The intriguing idea was dallied with — then dropped, as so many good
ideas are.

But it was not dropped by Abbie Flanner. The idea stayed right with
her and presently she evolved a poem to keep it company in a letter sent —
before her courage failed — to Mr. Halleck. It did not really take so much
courage because Abbie signed a fictitious name — Ellen A. F. Campbell.

WOMEN OF OHIO

781

But see what the clever and charming bachelor poet was able to evolve,
just from a name. Halleck’s “Answer to Ellen” or to give its accepted title
“The Mocking Bird” totaled ten stanzas, among them these

“I saw the Highland heath flower smile
In beauty upon ELLEN’S isle
And — couched in ELLEN’S bower —

I watched beneath the lattice leaves
Her coming, through a summer’s eve
Youngest and loveliest hour.

“Long shall I deem that winning smile
A mere mockery, to beguile
Some lonely hour of care
And will this Ellen prove to be
But like her namesake o’er the sea
A being of the air.

“Or shall I take the morning’s wing
Armed with a parson and a ring
Speed hill and dale along
And at her cottage hearth, ere night
Change into flutterings of delight
Or what’s more likely, of affright
The merry mock-bird’s song.”

It should be noted that the first portion of Fitz Greene Halleck’s poem
in answer to “Ellen” is altogether figurative and imaginary, as the remain-
ing seven stanzas make clear. This is important because the point — the highly
romantic and certainly quite unmodern point of the whole story is that
| “Ellen” and Fitz Greene Halleck never did meet. Nor was this altogether
| Halleck’s fault. Mystery lent, apparently, lots of enchantment to his view
and he asked “Ellen” (Abbie) for a personal interview. But “Ellen” (Abbie)
j said no, that would spoil everything — the illusion would vanish. She did send
him, however, another poem — and a very nice one. It said in part —

“But when the busy crowd is gone
And bright upon the western sky
The changeful sunset hues are thrown
0, wilt thou thither turn the eye
And send one gentle thought to her
Whose spirit turns to thine
Like Persia’s idol worshipper
Or Moslem to his prophet’s shrine?”

—“Ellen.”

782

WOMEN OF OHIO

Fitz Greene Halleck sent a copy of his poems and is said to have really
tried to find her. But “Ellen 7 ’ (the obdurate Abbie) said no, no — she pre-
ferred to keep her idol at a distance.

However, Abbie (the former “Ellen”) did not, apparently feel this way
about everybody. She married a Mr. Talbot and seemed to have lived on
happily enough right there in Mt. Pleasant. Her death occurred in 1852 and
she was buried in Jefferson County — in the Short Creek Meeting House
graveyard.

It is probable that Abbie Flanner would have liked to have had a line
or two of one of her really very excellent poems carved on her tombstone.
But there was no tombstone — or at least there is none now — to mark the last
resting place of Fitz Greene Halleck 7 s “Mocking Bird”.

KATHERINE GERWICK

KATHERINE GERWICK, formerly of Zanesville, 0., who passed away
in 1927, was a member of the Author’s Club. Her poetry was widely pub-
lished in many of the better magazines. Before her death she was connected
with the National Young Woman’s Christian Association, with offices in New
York, and was assistant to Carrie Chapman Catt in her work for World
Peace.

ALICE E. HANSCOM

ALICE E. HANSCOM, teacher and poet, was born in Gates Mills, Ohio,
June 3, 1848, the daughter of Alva and Hannah Hanscom. She lived in
several homes there, the last one later known as the Hunt Club Inn. She
died October 24, 1932 in Willoughby, Ohio, where she had been a resident for
about seventy years, and had lived to become one of the most dearly loved
and distinguished citizens of the community.

The many interests of her active mind had led her to seek many wider
horizons. After her graduation from Willoughby College in 1866, she re-
ceived her early training as teacher in at least six localities, with one year’s
teaching in each of the following places : Willoughby, Orrville, Alliance, Rich-
mond in Kentucky, Cleveland and three years in Dayton. All these early
experiences led up to wider opportunities in metropolitan schools; first from
1880 to 1884 in New York City, in Mrs. Salisbury’s School; from 1884 to
1895 in the Hathaway Brown School in Cleveland and in 1902 at the Laurel
School in Cleveland, where she was employed as special teacher and lecturer
for some years.

Failing eyesight gradually led her to sever her close connection with
school work, but she continued to be a leader in intellectual circles. Prom-
inent in such activities she for almost twenty years directed the program of
a Jewish Club of highly cultivated women in Cleveland. During these years

WOMEN OF OHIO

783

after her retirement from formal teaching, she was busy with her pen, writing
articles on matters of current literary interest for various publications.

She was invited by a New York paper to interview Charles W. Chesnutt,
then rising to prominence as a young novelist in Cleveland; for another
periodical, she served as book reviewer, and after much urging consented
to send one of her timely poems to her town newspaper. At the earnest
entreaty of friends, she privately published in 1898, her one book of verse,
“Perennia.”

Such are the bare facts in the life of the rare spirit of Alice Hanscom,
whose sojourn on earth for eighty-four years influenced her environment,
wherever she might be; whose personality was like the fragrance of “precious
ointment.”

It was this highly spiritual quality coupled with intellectual acumen that
made her influence far-felt. Her keen appreciation of literary values gave her
a delicacy of diction which made her opinion of books discriminating and
added to this was a lively sense of humor.

Her long span of years gave her a breadth of vision in estimating the
trend of contemporary affairs in which she took a lively interest. She
remembered many events of the Civil War, and the terrific shock when the
report of Lincoln’s assassination came to the village. “I saw,” she recounted,
sorrowfully, “I saw his funeral train draped in black as it passed through
Willoughby.”

Her secretary, Miss Lillian Barnes (now MRS. C. J. ROLFE of Willough-
by), often encouraged Miss Hanscom during later years to recall some of the
experiences of her youth and we have Mrs. Rolfe to thank for some of these
reminiscences.

Among her chief interests in Willoughby, the Library and the Andrews
School held her constant attention. One of the school dormitories carries her
name. First interest of all was the Willoughby Church of Christ, organized
in 1873, of which she was the last charter member. Her generous gift of
$10,000.00 made possible the construction of the present building. She also
donated an organ, a gift made in memory of her mother.

Alice Hanscom was an idealist. Her poetry abounds in spiritual realities
which for her permeated even the commonplaces of life. When in 1918 she
came to live in her new and delightful home with Dr. Chesbrough, she wrote
a series of verses entitled, “My Window World.” The first of these, “At the
East Window,” tells how —

“When certain people speak their word
About the white birch tree,

My window-neighbor gowned in green,

She lets me know what she has heard
(Our interchange of glance unseen)

And pities such as these, does she.

784

WOMEN OF OHIO

Who having eyes yet cannot see
To tell a dryad from a tree !

She looks demure until they go,

But then she flutters to and fro
And lisps and laughs and beckons me . . . ”

The last of the series, “Dawn on the Terrace/ ’ illustrates her devout and
holy interpretation of nature when she writes :

“High, high, . . .

My spirit mounts into the sky

The mystery and the miracle made luminous to me . .

To be deprived of such luminous revelations to the eye, made blindness
particularly hard for her to bear.

Wide knowledge of history and literature recaptured in many a con-
versation with friends of kindred spirits, delightful impressions once received.

She was blind when she took a long anticipated trip to Europe and the
Holy Land. Commenting on her first visit to the Acropolis, she said: “I can
never describe the joy that filled my soul, when I placed my hand on a stone
warmed by the sun, near the spot where Paul was reported to stand when
he spoke on Mars Hill. ”

The poem which perhaps best represents her unchanging faith is one
she wrote at the turn of the century and which she names “Carmen Cordis.’ ’
It reads:

“Thanks that the stars endure

Though years like clouds go by;

A patient Purpose holds secure
The children of the sky.

“Thanks, though the years in sheaves
The past’s dim store complete;

By grace of autumn leaves

Are far-off summers sweet.

“Thanks that the human soul

May trust the plan sublime
Which rises towards its glorious goal
On century steps of time.

“Thanks that the hearts of men

May fold in their frail tents
A treasure safe from tyrant’s ken —

The Dream’s magnificence

WOMEN OF OHIO

785

“Thanks that when stars and years
Their outmost bound have won,

Beyond them still the Dream appears
And smiling beckons on.”

Ad Finem 1900 A ' E ' H '

FLORENCE LA GANKE HARRIS

FLORENCE LA GANKE HARRIS, (Mrs. Frederick Aston Harris), of
Cleveland, is a recognized authority on home economics, not only in Ohio but
also largely throughout the country by reason of her wide activities in this
field and her extensive writings on the subject.

Born in Cleveland, Mrs. Harris is a daughter of Robert Frederick and
Lillie (Green) La Ganke. Her ancestors in the paternal line were French
Hugenots, who settled in Alsace Lorraine. Her mother’s people in the paternal
line were English and in the maternal line of American and German descent.
Mrs. Harris attended the grade and high schools of Cleveland and some years
afterward, or in 1923, was graduated from the Teachers College of Columbia
University. In the nineteen years which had elapsed after her graduation
from high school in 1904 she had been very active in Cleveland, New York,
Oakland, California, and then again in Cleveland, largely in the field of home
economics.

Her first position was that of hospital dietitian in Cleveland and later
she was manager of the lunchroom of the Horace Mann school of Columbia
University. She then became instructor of home economics at the Flora Stone
Mather school and later at Western Reserve University of Cleveland. This
was followed by a period spent as supervisor of the economics department of
the Teachers College of Columbia University, and from the Atlantic coast,
she proceeded to the Pacific, becoming supervisor of home economics in the
public schools of Oakland, California. With her return to her native state
she became home economics editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer and later
of the Cleveland Press and was appointed director of women’s activities under
the title of “Home in the Sky.”

In 1935 Mrs. Harris was made home economics consultant, in which
connection she does considerable broadcasting over the radio and writes book-
lets and other articles. She is widely known as the author of various books,
including “Patty Pans,” a cook book for beginners, published by Little
Brown; is a co-author (Harris & Huston) of “Home Economics Omnibus,”
which is a high school text book; the author of “Every Woman’s Complete
Guide to Home Making,” a handbook for housekeepers; co-author (Harris &
Henderson) of “Foods,” also a high school textbook, the above all being
published by Little Brown, and “Flavor’s the Thing,” issued February 1, 1939
by Barrows, this being a cookbook of foods that have good flavor.

786

WOMEN OE OHIO

Mrs. Harris remained home economics editor of the Cleveland Plain
Dealer for seven years, during which time she started a food column for
children, writing a daily and Sunday column. For five years she traveled all
over northern Ohio as a goodwill representative of the Plain Dealer, talking
on home-making subjects before club groups, Grange meetings, Parent-
Teachers Associations, girls classes and other gatherings.

It was in 1923 that Florence La Ganke was married to Frederick Aston
Harris. She gives her political support to the Republican party and she
belongs to the Epworth Euclid Methodist Episcopal church. She has member-
ship in the Woman’s City Club of Cleveland, of which she is a director, is a
life member of the Associated Charities, is serving on the board of directors
of the Child Health Association of Cleveland and belongs to the Home Eco-
nomics Association, including the national, state, local and business groups.
She also has membership in both the state and national organizations of
American Dietetics and is serving on the board of directors of the Needlecraft
Guild of Cleveland. She works with an artist to design quilts, selling some of
these designs to magazines, and she has a most interesting collection of fifty
quilts. Mrs. Harris is also extremely interested in home decorations, this
being developed during her ‘‘Home in the Sky” regime, and she is an omni-
vorous reader.

MARIAN SINCLAIR HEADLAND
MARIAN SINCLAIR HEADLAND (Mrs. Isaac T. Headland), of Alliance,
is now retired, after a professional career such as few men or women trained
in the art and science of healing have to their credit. With her husband, who
taught philosophy at Mt, Union College, she travelled to the Orient and
there served as physician to the mother of the former Empress Dowager of
China, to the Chinese princesses and to wives of Manchu officials.

Her unique experiences are told in several books, of which Prof. Head-
land is joint author, notably “Court Life in China” and “Home Life in
China.”

MARY BREWSTER HOLLISTER
MARY BREWSTER HOLLISTER, writer and lecturer of Delaware, 0.,
who has contributed many authentic stories of Chinese life to juvenile and
religious literature, was herself born in China, at Foochow, the daughter of
William H. and Elizabeth Brewster. She took her A.B. degree cum laude
at Ohio Wesleyan University and did graduate work at the University of
California, the University of Chicago and at Columbia University. In 1915
she married George Wallace Hollister and until 1928 was most of the time
in missionary or educational service in China. Mrs. Hollister taught at the
Sienyu Boys School and at Hinghwa Theological School and was active in

WOMEN OF OHIO

787

social work in this and other cities. She is author of “Lady Fourth Daughter”
an interdenominational study book, “Back to the Mountain” and other books
that tell the story of her own colorful experiences. The Hollisters live at 150
N. Sandusky St., Delaware.

HELEN JOAN HULTMAN

HELEN JOAN HULTMAN, of Dayton, combines successfully two occu-
pations not ordinarily brought together, that of school teacher and detective
story writer.

Helen was born at Dayton, the daughter of Klaus and Amanda Hultman,
took her Ph.D. at Denison University and is now teacher of English at Stivers
High School. She has been deeply interested in all types of modern literature,
especially poetry, since her school days. Several years ago Miss Hultman
began to try her hand at detective fiction, with excellent results. She is
author of “Find the Woman,” “Death at Windward Hill,” and “Murder in
the French Room.” Her residence is at 339 Grand Ave.

ELLOUISE BAKER LARSON

Among Ohio women, few, if any, have more expert knowledge of china
than has ELLOUISE BAKER LARSON, who has made a comprehensive
study of the subject and has written largely for magazines and is also the
author of several published works on china. Mrs. Baker is the wife of Louis
A. Larson, vice president and treasurer of the Lima Locomotive Company,
of Lima, Ohio, and a daughter of Samuel S. and Kulia A. (Baxter) Baker.
Her parents were natives of Cape Cod, Massachusetts and representatives of
old families that came to this country about 1638. The Bakers came from
England and the marriage of Francis Baker and Elizabeth Twining was the
first ever celebrated at Yarmouth, Massachusetts.

Mrs. Larson, like so many of her ancestors, is a native of Cape Cod and
after attending the grade schools there and graduating from high school, she
entered the Quincy (Mass.) Training School. After completing her studies
there she and her mother joined her father and brother who had gone to
St. Paul, Minnesota, where she began teaching in the Oak Hall School for
Girls, a fashionable school of that day in which she taught for seven years.

In 1906 Ellouise Baker became the wife of Louis A. Larson and for a
time they continued to reside in St. Paul, but later removed to New York
City, where they made their home for eight years. They afterward spent two
years in Montclair, New Jersey. While in New York Mrs. Larson studied
with Clayton Hamilton, won her diploma and began writing short stories,
which has engaged her attention at times ever since. Twenty years ago, in
1919, Mr. and Mrs. Larson came to Lima. They have two sons, Laurence H.,
after finishing high school in Lima attended preparatory school in Lawrence-

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ville, then went to Maine and in 1936 was graduated from Princeton Uni-
versity, where he had specialized in law. He next entered Harvard as a law
student, also pursued a course in business administration there and was
graduated in June, 1939. William 0., the younger son, had his early schooling
in Lima, was graduated at Lawrenceville in 1937 and is now at Princeton,
where he is majoring in surgery. Both sons have won the rank of second
lieutenant in the Reserve Officers Training Corps. They have also studied
music and play the flute, violin and piano. The younger son was president
of his class at Lawrenceville and was awarded the prize by the Aurelian
Honor Society at Yale on “Character, Leadership, Scholarship” in the class
of 1937.

Mrs. Larson has long been prominent in club circles, has served on
various important club committees and has been active in other ways. Soon
after coming to Lima she joined the Lotus Club and the Art Study Club and
has been president of each. She is even more widely known as an expert on
antique china and has lectured largely on “Old Blue,” many times having
the co-operation of Homer Eaton Keyes, the editor of the magazine “Antique.”
She has a collection of more than five hundred pieces and in her book on
Antiques in China, she has pictures of six hundred and ninety-five pieces, all
of which are described and indexed. Many pieces of her private collection
date from 1820 to 1860. Pieces manufactured since then are considered
modern, while anything made prior to 1860 is “antique.” She is the author
of many interesting articles on china, her first one appearing in the Anti-
quarian Magazine of February, 1929, on Identifying Makers of Historic Blue.
She also wrote Some Idiosyncrasies of the Staffordshire Potters, published in
the magazine Antiques, in July, 1931, and in the same magazine, in March,
1933, Thomas Godwin, Staffordshire Potter, while in April, 1936, appeared
her article on Staffordshire Records of Early Modes of Travel. In the Maga-
zines of Antiques, June, 1936, Part II, is found her article, The Truth about
Andrew Stevenson. The editor asserts in his introduction that this article
is true in every detail. Doubleday, Doran & Company have recently brought
out her book on Antiques in China, containing more than three hundred
pages, with about one hundred and thirty photographs and about twenty other
illustrations, and these publications of Mrs. Larson have been widely read by
lovers of fine china, who are acquainted with and interested in its history in
any measure.

Mrs. Larson owns an old residence at Hyannisport, on Cape Cod, which
they use as a summer home and which was built in 1818, as evidenced by a
penny which was found in the fireplace, it having been a custom of dating
the year of erection by placing the penny bearing current date in the fireplace,
which in their home is adorned with a hand carved mantel, adding much to
the beauty of the room. She belongs to Christ Episcopal Church of Lima, and
for fourteen years taught a Sunday school class of senior high school boys.

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789

ELMA EHRLICH LEVINGER

ELMA EHRLICH LEVINGER (Mrs. Lee J. Levinger), of Columbus,
widely known writer, was formerly editor of the Jewish Child Magazine and
also director of entertainment, Bureau of Jewish Education, New York City.

Mrs. Levinger was born in Chicago, attended the University of Chicago
and later Radcliffe College. She is author of ‘‘Grapes of Canaan,” a $2,000
prize novel of Jewish life and of numerous other novels, plays and short
stories. Her home is at 2257 Indianola Ave., Columbus.

ADNA LIGHTNER

When, in 1875, novels by an Ohio author, ADNA LIGHTNER (Mrs. S. B.
Lightner), began to appear, continuing fairly steadily for 40 years, they found
popularity for a number of reasons.

The main reason is indicated better now, perhaps, than formerly. Al-
though more or less in the style of their literary epoch, they did, it seems,
point toward a newer trend, toward more graphic picturization and more
clear cut characterization. Among them were “Shadow and Sunshine,” “The
Wayside Violet” and “Creta. ”

Mrs. Lightner has written also for periodicals and newspapers. She has
been a correspondent for the Cincinnati Post, the Ohio Farmer, the Masonic
Review, and writes short stories for Sunday School magazines.

The veteran woman writer is now 89 years old but she is still deeply
interested in her profession. She was completing — at the time of this biog-
raphy, 1938 — a new piece of work. She hoped to live to see it published but
if not — well, her daughter would.

MARY LOUISE MacMILLAN

MARY LOUISE MacMILLAN, poet and dramatist, daughter of the Rev-
erend William MacMillan, a Presbyterian Minister, granddaughter on the
maternal side of the Wades, who settled in Cincinnati in 1792, was born in
Venice, Ohio, in 1874.

After attending the high schools of Hamilton, Ohio, and Wells College,
she came, at an early age, to live in Cincinnati, where she made her home
until her death in 1937.

Her achievements were varied — researches into Cincinnati history, plays,
short-stories, critical reviews, and poems. But it was as a dramatist that Miss
MacMillan first acquired a national reputation. Realizing the need of dra-
matic groups for materials less hackneyed in theme and technique than the
“Box and Cox” genre, she published three volumes of short plays; and to
their influence may be attributed, in no small measure, an improved taste in
amateur theatricals in America and the popularity of the one-act play. For
more than twenty years Miss MacMillan’s short pieces, ranging in tone and
subject from the broad farce of “The Dress Rehearsal of Hamlet” to the
stylized beauty of “A Fan and Two Candlesticks,” have been frequently

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presented, and it is likely that they will continue to please the judicious for
some time to come.

Accomplished though Miss MacMillan’s plays undoubtedly are, they do
not sound the deep notes of her poetry. Her most significant work as a writer
is to be found in the volume entitled ‘'The Little Golden Fountain” and in
other poems that have appeared in various magazines and anthologies. Whether
it celebrates the loveliness of the Ohio countryside, “a second Shakespeare
country,” as she called it, or intones the finality of death, her verses were
soon recognized by composers, and Dr. Sidney Durst and others have turned
many of her lyrics into exquisite songs. Only a few months ago Miss Mac-
Millan finished a Christmas cantata, for which Dr. Dale Osborn has written
the music.

She was not only a poet, but also an inspiration to poets. As leader of
the Ohio Valley Poetry Society, she encouraged many writers and, by the
constant challenge of her wit and imagination and incorruptible standards
of judgment, roused them to fruitful activity. Moreover, she supervised the
publication of three anthologies containing work by members of the society,
and brought to Cincinnati audiences such compelling personalities as the late
Amy Lowell, Percy Mackaye, Carl Sandburg, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and
Robert Frost.

In recent years she had turned to the novel as a medium of expression
and had been gradually feeling her way to a mastery of this form. At her
death she left unfinished the manuscript of a novel which she had designed
to be a chronicle of pioneer heroism in the conquest of the Ohio Valley — a
subject with which by family tradition and by her own research, she was
conversant. Because Mary MacMillan did not live to contribute her part to
the great saga of our historic Middle West, that saga must always be im-
measurably poorer.

MARJORIE McCLURE

MARJORIE McCLURE (Mrs. Franklin E. McClure), Cleveland novelist
and short story writer, was born in Newark, N. J., the daughter of the Rev.
James M. and Mary Barkley. She completed her education at Detroit Sem-
inary, Mich., and established her home in Cleveland on her marriage to
Franklin E. McClure, financial specialist.

Mrs. McClure’s first full length novel, “High Fires” was published in
1924 and other fiction equally successful followed in quick succession. She
has written several plays, notably, “The Marriage of King Paulinus,” and
“John Dean’s Journey.”

ABBIE McKEEVER

ABBIE McKEEVER of Withamsville, Ohio, born in 1852 was gifted in
the art of versification, so much so, that she was often called the successor of

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791

Alice Cary. Many of her poems — notably “Draft Away” and “Only” were
published in national magazines.

RUTH McKENNEY

RUTH McKENNEY, whose “My Sister Eileen” has had New York by
the ears for the past year, is a comparative newcomer to the ranks of liter-
ature. Still a youngster as years go, she is deftly humorous without sacri-
ficing the realism that makes her a crack newspaper woman. She is now’
in New York but Akron, Ohio, where she was born, still claims her.

No one, the compiler of this chapter realized, was competent to report
the snappy not to say snorting part Ruth McKenny has played so far in the
game called life but Ruth herself.

So here it is “by RUTH McKENNEY”:

BIOGRAPHY IN BRIEF

November 18, 1911 — Born.

December 25, 1913 — Fell off rocking horse.

March 17, 1914 — Fell into creek.

March 18, 1914 — Fell into same creek.

May 15, 1918 — Cashiered out of Grade 2-B for pawning World War Savings
Stamps to buy Eskimo Pies.

September 16, 1918 — Fell off second story porch, while playing submarine.

Not hurt much. Slight fracture of skull.

September 20, 1918 — Vaccinated.

March 14, 1919 — Fell off school swing. Only broke ankle.

May 20, 1919 — Cashiered out of Grade 3-A. Teacher felt my essay entitled,
“What I did on my last summer vacation,” was a mess of lies.
Essay described my encounter with boa-constrictor. Teacher was
right.

July, 1919 — Whooping cough.

August, 1919 — Fell off porch stairs. Cut over right eye. Not very bad. Scar
permanent.

June, 1928 — Graduated from Shaw High School. Fell up stairs just before
going on stage, causing large hole in knee of new silk stockings.
September, 1928 — Went to college dance. Fell up stairs, naturally.

July, 1929 — Run over. Two day coma, black eyes, nothing serious.

September, 1929 — Went to work for Columbus Dispatch.

! May, 1930 — Automobile crash. Photographer for Dispatch broke six ribs.
Heaven was with us, I only got bruised. Coal truck smacked us.

, September, 1930 — Dean of Women at Ohio State University predicted I would
never be a credit to the institution. Absolutely right.

November, 1930 — First issue of Free Voice, a magazine devoted to comment
and opinion. T was an editor.

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WOMEN OF OHIO

November 20, 1930 — Cleveland Plain Dealer reports President of Ohio State
University deciding whether or not to expel editors of Free Voice.
November 21, 1930 — Heaven again with us. President decides he has better
things to do than to expel a lot of nasty students. Hurray.

June, 1931 — Sail for Europe. Had fun. This was before Hitler.

January, 1932 — Quit college. No money. Couldn’t graduate anyway, no
credits in Hygiene and Physical Education.

September, 1932 — Went to work for Akron Beacon Journal.

October, 1934 — Went to work for New York Post.

October, 1936 — Decided on Serious Literature. Quit Post.

October 20, 1936 — No money.

October 21, 1936 — Hungry.

October 22, 1936 — Decided on Funny Literature. Wrote funny piece for New
Yorker.

November 1, 1936 — New Yorker buys same. Whoopla.

August 12, 1937 — Married. Husband’s name is Bruce Minton.

August 20, 1938 — New Yorker pieces published in book called “My Sister
Eileen.” Eileen wouldn’t mind.

December 20, 1938 — Book called Industrial Valley — serious study about Akron,
Ohio. Goes to press. Ambition of a life-time fulfilled — maybe.

end

DAPHNE ALLOW AY McVICKER
DAPHNE ALLOWAY McVICKER (Mrs. Vinton McVicker), Columbus
writer, widely known for juvenile and short stories, was born at Cambridge,
O., the daughter of James William and Ninette Alloway.

She took her A.B. at Ohio State University and soon developed unusual
ability in short story fiction and free lance writing. Mrs. McVicker has had
more than 300 juvenile stories published in various national magazines and
her verse and adult fiction have been featured in important publications. Her
home is at 371 W. Tenth St., Columbus.

MAUD MOORE

An active worker in social, civic and religious circles of Ada, Ohio, is
MAUD MOORE. Her father, Justin Brewer, was president of the First
National Bank, and her husband, Charles Moore, is now cashier in the same
bank. She is a niece of Mrs. L. B. Campbell.

Mrs. Moore organized the local P. T. A. and was its president for ten years.
She has verse featured in national magazines.

Her “Lethargy” was published in 1936 Davis Anthology. Mrs. Moore
is now a member of the Ohioana Library Committee from Hardin County.
Among her many fine poems is the following —

RUTH McKENNY

author of “My Sister Eileen” and
“Industrial Valley,” former Ohio
State University correspondent for
Columbus Dispatch

WOMEN OF OHIO

795

“MY MOTHER”

In vision only, may I find her,

My Mother ! Her love was such,

Wakening from her sleep immortal,

In my dreams she paused to touch
My lips, my eyes, oft, through the years;

Yet sleeping eyes, they shed no tears.

Loves like her are always giving;

Sleep, Mother dear — safe from the living.

— M. M. Moore.”

MARGARET MORSE NICE

MARGARET MORSE NICE (Mrs. Leonard R. Nice), ornithologist, of
Columbus, Ohio, was born at Amherst, Mass., took her A. B. at Mt. Holyoke
College and her M. A. at Clark University. She is vice president of the Col-
umbus Audubon Society and an advisory councilor of the National Association
of Audubon societies. Mrs. Nice has written numerous authoritative articles
on birds and has translated many foreign books and monographs on this
subject. She was a delegate to the eighth international Ornithological Con-
gress held at Oxford, England, and is vice chairman of Section 111 of this
important organization of scientists.

MABEL POSEGATE

MABEL POSEGATE, Poet Laureate of Ohio, reader and lecturer, was
born in Cincinnati, the daughter of Oliver Franklin and Gertrude Knighton
Bear. Her education was received in the Walnut Hills High School, the
Nelson Business College and the University of Cincinnati. Mrs. Posegate
married Charles Sargent Posegate, and is the mother of four children.

“Silver Scutcheon,” Mrs. Posegate ’s first volume of poems, was pub-
lished in France, in 1928. “Once When Arcturus Shone,” her second volume
of verse, came seven years later, in 1935, and was published at Brattleboro,
Vermont. This book received an award in the National Book Contest spon-
sored by the National League of American Pen Women in Washington, D. C.,
and was in part responsible for Mrs. Posegate’s lifetime appointment on
November 11, 1936, as the first Poet Laureate of Ohio.

Shortly after her appointment, a pink dogwood tree, which was the gift
of Mrs. Oliver B. Kaiser, was planted in her honor in the Author’s Grove in
Eden Park, where it overlooks the Ohio River. “White Moment,” Mrs. Pose-
gate’s third book of verse, was published in Philadelphia, in 1938. It was
widely reviewed, and brought its author honorary membership in the Eugene
Field Society of St. Louis, Mo.

Mrs. Posegate was selected by Henry Harrison, well-known New York
publisher, to edit and write the Foreword for the Ohio section of the North
American Book of Verse, which is scheduled for spring publication. “Gallery

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for Poets” is a monthly column which she edits for the benefit of poets, using
in it their poems and reviews of their books.

Mrs. Posegate’s verse has had wide recognition in England as well as in
America. Poems of hers have appeared in The Christian Century; The Satur-
day Review of Literature ; Chicago Tribune ; Literary Digest ; London Poetry
Review; Voices and many poetry journals. Some of her poems have received
awards, while a number of them have been set to music and have been given
on the radio. She has been widely represented in anthologies, including those
of William Stanley Braithwaite.

Mrs. Posegate is an active member of the Poetry Society of America ; the
Poetry Society of England ; the Poetry Society of Ohio. She is vice-president
of the Cincinnati branch of the National League of American Pen Women;
a board member of the Cincinnati Woman’s Press Club; past president,
Eastern Hills Literary Club; member Greater Cincinnati Writers’ League;
member Music and Poetry Society; Republican Woman’s Club; Patroness,
Omega Chapter Phi Beta, Music and Speech Fraternity.

SARA V. PRUESER

SARA V. PRUESER, writer and former educator of Defiance, Ohio, has
made two gratifying careers grow where only one is the customary experience.
She took her A. B. at Defiance College and became a teacher more than 40
years ago. She was promoted to a principalship and at the time of her retire-
ment was head of Northside Grade School. Miss Pruesser had been active
in the Toledo Writers’ Club and a contributor to national magazines while
still in the schools. In recent years she has had poems and articles published
in widely known periodicals and her work has found good place in various
anthologies. Her home is at 800 N. Clinton St., Defiance.

ANNA W. ROUSSEL

ANNA W. ROUSSEL, writer of Camden, Ohio, was born there, the
daughter of John and Anna Whitaker, and was married to George Albert
Roussel, born in Carcassome, France.

Her verse has been widely published and has been included in numerous
anthologies. She also writes travel sketches.

Mrs. Roussel is a member of the Methodist Church ; of the Ohio League of
Women Voters; Council of International League and League of Nations
Association.

Anna Roussel was educated in the Camden Public School and has served
on the Board of Education of Camden, Ohio and of Dayton, Ohio, and was
the first woman to be elected to these offices.

She has served as president in the following clubs: Philomathian, Camden,
Ohio; Woman’s Literary Club, Dayton, Ohio; The Woman’s Club, Laurel,
Maryland and Woman’s Club, Huntington, W. Va.

WOMEN OF OHIO

797

In 1939 Mrs. Roussel was appointed a member of the League of Nation’s
World Fair Committee, New York.

PAULINE SAGER

PAULINE SAGER (Mrs. P. H. Sager), of Newark, whose verse has been
widely published, broadcasted and set to music, was born at Kenton, Ohio,
where her ancestors, of German and of English descent, first settled about
1742. Her gift for building words into rhythmic patterns is an inheritance,
Mrs. Sager believes, from her father and her grandfather, both lovers of
good poetry who read much and were fond of quoting the gems of literature
which most impressed them.

Pauline attended public school at Kenton and at Lima, then the Ohio
Northern University and later Ohio State University. She was for a time
teacher of art in the public schools of Lima. Following her marriage to P. H.
Sager, faculty member of Newark High School, Mrs. Sager concentrated on
writing, devoting to this avocation all of the time and energy not required
by the conducting of her home at Newark.

Her ability and effort have been rewarded with definite success in the
field of poetry. Among publications which have featured her poems are The
American Poetry Magazine, Poetry Caravan, the Journal of the National
Education Association, Ohio State Journal, Columbus Citizen, Columbus Dis-
patch and Ohio Schools. Mrs. Sager is an active member of the American
Literary Association and of the Verse Writers Guild of Ohio. Here is a
characteristic poem which won first prize for Mrs. Sager in a recent statewide
competition :

CHINESE ROSE
Will anything be left
For remembering
When China’s heart, war-cleft
Finds a tranquil spring?

Will the land forget

When cherry-blossoms fall,

War’s gleaming bayonet,

His tents beyond the wall?

Pushing through the dust
Where the Yangtze flows,

Memory’s thorn will thrust
From the wild white rose.

ADA MARIA SKINNER

ADA MARTA SKTNNER, Columbus author and text book writer, was
born in Worcester, England, the daughter of Thomas and Emmeline Skinner.

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WOMEN OF OHIO

She took her B. S. at Columbia University and published her first book,
“Storyland for Children” in 1914. In quick succession followed ‘‘Dramatic
Stories for Reading and Acting,” “Little Folks Christmas Plays,” “Nursery
Tales from Many Lands,” “The Topaz Story Book” and many others. She
is co-author of “Fact and Story Readers” and of “Practice Units in English.”
Her home is at 861 Neil Ave., Columbus.

EDITH LOMBARD SQUIRES

EDITH LOMBARD SQUIRES, born in Muskingum County, now living
in Richmond, Indiana, whose collection “Sails that Sing” was published in
1928 and had many re-printings, is noted for historical plays, children’s plays,
radio scripts and poetry arrangements and is also a noteworthy musician. She
is a member of the American Pen Women’s Association.

ANNA LOUISE STRONG

ANNA LOUISE STRONG was born at Mt. Vernon, November 8, 1885.

She was graduated from Oak Park High School in 1901, and during the
following year studied in Germany. On her return from abroad, she spent
a year in Bryn Mawr. In 1905 she was graduated from Oberlin College w T ith
the degree of A. B. and in 1908 from the University of Chicago with the degree
of Ph. D.

Anna Strong has won a distinguished place in the field of letters, also in
social work.

Among her best known books are: Songs of the City, King’s Palace, Psy-
chology of Prayer, On the Eve of Home Rule, Ragged Verse by Anise, History
of The Seattle Strike, The First Time in History, and Children of The Revo-
lution.

Miss Strong is now living in Seattle, Washington, from which place she
travels extensively and gathers material for her prolific pen.

IDA TARBELL

IDA TARBELL, who at 81 years of age has just completed a new book
high lighted by reviewers all over the country, was born in Erie County, Penn.,
and makes her present home at Meadville, Penn. How can she be claimed as
a woman of Ohio ?

The answer is that what this world famous biographer, writer and re-
former regards as one of the highly formative periods of her career — because
it was the beginning — was spent in the little village of Poland, Mahoning
County, Ohio, as “preceptress” of the old Poland Academy.

Ida Tarbell likes to tell how she got the job. There were, she says, two
other candidates, one of them undoubtedly more experienced and better
qualified.

WOMEN OF OHIO

799

But the youthful Miss Tarbell had, it seems, plenty of personality. She
was “ possibly better looking.” Anyhow she taught the young idea in Mahon-
ing County so well that to this day, residents of the entire locality, including
the big and bustling city of Youngstown, Ohio, point with pride to their
former teacher.

Ida Tarbell’s story could hardly be better told than it is in an article
by Esther Hamilton, featured April 30, 1939, in the Youngstown Vindicator.
It says, in part — “Miss Tarbell was born in Titusville, Pa. in November, 1857,
daughter of a self-sufficient farmer. When the oil boom swept Pennsylvania,
naturally she knew much of it. In 1880, when she went to Meadville College,
she was one of five girls enrolled. It was a venturesome thing for her to do
in those times.

“Out of college, she went to Poland Academy to teach for two years. As
preceptress of the Poland Academy, Miss Tarbell had spent part of her sum-
mers at Chautauqua, looked upon as the fountain of culture in its time. She
became assistant editor of 4 The Chautauqua’ and was embarked on her literary
career. She spent eight years there, in one capacity and another, and with her
natural inclination to be a scientist, coupled with her writing experience she
was ready for anything.

“At the time Frenchmen were doing the best work in history and biog-
raphy, so with her savings of $150.00, Ida Tarbell went to Paris to find out
how it was done. She supported herself there in frugal fashion in a Paris
garret by sending back articles to American magazines.

“It was in the early 90 ’s that S. S. McClure, noted journalist of his day,
read her articles and got her on his editorial staff. This brought her into
contact with Lincoln Steffens, then hounding out corruption in politics and
industry. Some persons of the period called the crusaders muckrakers, but
Miss Tarbell herself, with a fiery flash in her eyes, and swift movements of
those ever expressive hands, is quick to deny that charge. They were students
of the times, printing the facts as they saw them.

“Along with her magazine work, she found time to write and publish a
life of Napoleon, another of Madame Roland. In 1896, she published her first
volume of Lincoln and four years later her two-volume biography of Lincoln,
now a classic in the libraries of the country and the Bible of all Lincoln
students. Other articles and volumes on Lincoln followed.

“She was called all over the country to lecture. She could not begin to
fill her writing assignments. The country school teacher was made.

“But it was in 1904, with 'The History of the Standard Oil Company’
that Ida Tarbell stood the country on its ears. The book scorched the com-
pany. Suits followed. Her name became a household word and trust leaders
feared her as they would the plague. She knew the oil industry from her
early days in Titusville, from her father’s experience in trying to be an inde-
pendent and she dug up records, interviewed people who had the answers, got

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sworn statements, literally tossed a bomb-shell of facts into the lap of
America.

“With others, she was interested in starting the American Magazine in
1906. In her spare time (usually between midnight and dawn) she published
‘The Business of Being a Woman,’ ‘The Ways of Women,’ ‘The Tariff in
Our Times’ and dozens of articles.

“In 1916 Miss Tarbell wrote a book about changing methods in business.
That was followed by books on Judge Gary and Owen D. Young, which were
anything but muckraking, but did demonstrate the new deal in business where
the employee gets consideration.

“Her latest book, considered sufficiently important to get first place in
the book review sections of the metropolitan papers, reviews the high lights
of her life. It is not complete, for one would have to read all her works to get
some glimpse of what she has done these last few years but from page 48 to
page 63, it is full of things of interest to Youngstown, Ohio people.”

AD ALINE H. TATMAN

AD ALINE H. TATMAN (Mrs. William C. Tatman), one of Cincinnati’s
group of successful writers* taught school in Southern Ohio for five years
before her marriage, and previous to embarking on her literary career.

Her poems, many in number, and particularly noted for their delicacy of
feeling and expression, have appeared from time to time, in Good Housekeep-
ing, the Public School Journal, the Ladies Home Journal and other magazines
and newspapers. Among the best examples of her work are the verses entitled
“The Night Meeting,” “The Carpenter,” and “I went To you for Sympathy.”

With her husband, Mrs. Tatman was co-founder of the Greater Cincinnati
Writers League, which now has a membership of 65 poets, novelists, short
story writers, editors and newspaper men and women.

She is also past president and member of the Women’s Press Club of
Cincinnati and a charter member of the Cincinnati Branch of the League of
American Pen Women.

ISABEL WHITEHOUSE TOPPIN

ISABEL WHITEHOUSE TOPPIN, of Toledo, is a widely known writer
and is associate editor of “The Sun,” weekly newspaper of which her husband,
James Toppin, is editor and publisher. The paper was founded by them in
1920.

Mrs. Toppin, author of two volumes of poetry, is a member of the National
League of American Pen Women, Cincinnati Branch; The Ohioana Library
Association; the Ohio Newspaper Woman’s Association; the Woman’s Press
Club and her poems and articles in many papers and magazines are read by
many.

WOMEN OF OHIO

801

She is also a member of the Toledo League of Women Voters; the City
Manager League ; Toledo Better Motion Picture Council ; Toledo Museum of
Art ; Toledo Naturalists Association ; Wilson Ornithological Association ;
Toledo Zoological Society; Toledo Astronomical Society; National Anti-
Vivisection Society; National Geographic Society; Ogle Union, W.C.T.U., and
was organizer in 1931 of the East Side Loyal Temperance Legion for school
children of which she was district leader six years. She was also a member
of the Toledo Business and Professional Women’s Club. She was organizer
of the East Side Young People’s Branch Temperance Society for high school
boys and girls and of their White Ribbon Male Quartette ; served as treasurer
of the Toledo Council on the Cause and Cure of War for three terms and is
a member of the Cincinnati Peace League. She is a charter member of Lotus
Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star ; also a member of the Board of Directors
of Lotus Assembly, Order of Rainbow for Girls. She is the author of their
official Ohio State Song “ Rainbow of Promise.”

In addition to Mrs. Toppin’s literary and humanitarian activities, she is
a home-keeper and the mother of a son, Paul Victor Toppin.

Her first volume of 100 poems was published in 1927 and her second
volume of more than 100 poems was published in September, 1934. Both
volumes are in the Ohioana State Library at Columbus, Ohio.

|

i

MARGARETTA MUHLENBERG TUTTLE

To MARGARETTA MUHLENBERG TUTTLE (Mrs. Frederic C. Tuttle),
has been accorded the satisfaction that accompanies not only authorship of
best sellers but also screen production of her novels on a scale that climaxed
the widespread interest they aroused in serial and book form.

The realism that is part of her gift for writing is attributed by this
widely known Cincinnati author to the fact that she was the daughter of a
newspaper man, the late George Perkins. She was born in Cleveland, Ohio,
but came to Cincinnati in her early girlhood and was graduated from
Cincinnati University.

Her writing career did not begin until several years after her marriage
to Frederic Tuttle, a highly experienced and successful business man. Her
earlier articles made their way promptly into leading national weeklies and
as these were followed by clever fiction in modern setting, the popularity of
the author grew in the world of editors and publishers as w r ell as that of
readers.

Among her best known novels are “His Worldly Goods,” “Feet of Clay
which was filmed by Cecil DeMille, “Kingdoms of the World,” “The Un-
guarded Hour” and “Little Girl.”

During the World War Armistice, Mrs. Tuttle toured the war zone and
on her return dealt with results of the great catastrophe in articles of much
interest and appeal.

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The Tuttles has two daughters, Margaretta and Catherine and a son
Frederic Chandler Tuttle. Their home is at Rose Hill, Cincinnati.

JEAN STARR UNTERMEYER
JEAN STARR UNTERMEYER was born in Zanesville, Ohio, in 1888. A
talented, artistic girl, Jean Starr was married to the poet Louis Unter-
meyer of New York when she was quite young and almost immediately
embarked upon an independent career of writing. Her poems have been pub-
lished in the Century ; The Bookman ; Poetry ; The Literary Review and many
other magazines and she has brought out several collections of verse, notably
“Growing Pains” and “Dreams Out of Darkness.” She is now living in New
York and her drawing room is like an old world salon in the variety and
number of interesting personages of the stage and world of art and letters
who gather there.

RACHEL M. VARBLE

RACHEL M. YARBLE (Mrs. Pinckney Yarble) of Cleveland Heights, is
a writer of popular juvenile stories and contributor to newspaper syndicates.
She was educated at Science Hill School for Girls, Kentucky, and took special
courses at Kenntucky State University. Among her published stories are
“The Red Cape,” “A girl from London” and “Marie of the Gypsies.” Her
residence is 2273 Bellfield Rd., Cleveland Heights.

MARY S. WATTS

When MARY S. WATTS, Cincinnati novelist and playwright, published
her first book “Nathan Burke” literary critics and reviewers throughout the
country turned their eyes toward the Queen City to discover the formula
which had won for this comparatively unknown writer such signal success.

The secret was not hard to find. Untiring research and a talent for good,
terse English were the main factors in the production of this and other highly
skilled historical novels by this successful woman writer. They still are, as
is evidenced by many other fine stories. Among them are “Jennie Cushing,”
“The Rudder,” “The Boardman Family,” “From Father to Son,” “The Noon
Mark” and “The House of Rimmon.” Mrs. Watts was Mary Stanbery before
her marriage to Miles T. Watts of Cincinnati. She was born in Delaware
County, Ohio, educated at the Sacred Heart Convent, Cincinnati, and was
given the honorary degree of Master of Arts by the Cincinnati University. She
is the author of a number of plays and of many short stories and articles.

DUFFY RANSOHOFF WESTHEIMER

DUFFY RANSOHOFF WESTHEIMER (Mrs. Leo Westheimer) Cincin-
nati writer and book reviewer, was born in Cincinnati, the daughter of dis-

WOMEN OF OHIO

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tinguished parents who did much for the progress of their native city.

Her father was the late Dr. Joseph Ransohoff, a surgeon whose service
helped to make the medical history of the middle west. Her mother belonged
to the Workum family, identified closely with numerous social services and
philanthropies.

MRS. JOSEPH RANSOHOFF was in reality the originator of the now
highly developed educational service given to children in hospitals and special
schools of Cincinnati.

Duffy Ransohoff attended the school of Madame Blanche Fredin, later
the University of Cincinnati where she became a member of the Sorority
V. C. B. and Kappa Alpha Theta. She completed her education in Europe
where she took various courses.

Her marriage to Leo Westheimer, Cincinnati financier, united two Cincin-
natians, long noted for fine citizenship as well as for personal achievement.

Three children were born to this union and their care occupied the time
and energy of Mrs. Westheimer before she began development in good earnest
of her talent as a writer. Her short stories soon found publication in a number
of leading magazines. Her plays were also published, then presented by various
companies. For a year Duffy Westheimer was a staff member of the Cincin-
nati Times-Star as book reviewer and during this period she became a member
of the Ohio Newspaper Women’s Association.

Her outstanding social service has been given through the Red Cross
of which she is canteen chairman and a board member. Other organizations
with which she has worked enthusiastically and efficiently are the Cincinnati
Woman’s Exchange, Fresh Air Farm, Visiting Nurse Association, National
Youth Aliy ah, English Speaking Union, MacDowell Society, Town Club and
Cincinnati Woman’s Club.

B. Y. WILLIAMS

B. Y. WILLIAMS (Mrs. Karl H. Williams) of Cincinnati, author of two
volumes of poetry accorded high praise by both critics and public, was born
at Hamersville, Ohio, the daughter of Elsberrv and Eleanor Belle Smith.

She made her home at Georgetown for a time following her marriage to
Karl Howland Williams, then at Wigginsville and for the past 20 years in
Cincinnati.

Mrs. Williams began writing in earnest while her children, Anne Bernice
(Mrs. W. Massey Foley) and Thomas Young Williams (deceased) were still
of tender years. Many of her early and still most popular poems tell quite
simply and gayly of joys which are the happy heritage of childhood.

Later verse has varied themes but the simplicity of style which, combined
with depth of thought and gift for phrasing, is regarded as the chief excel-
| lency of this successful writer, has always remained a characteristic of her
work.

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